


The Scientific Method

by Ysavvryl



Series: MMX Alternate Timeline [4]
Category: Rockman X | Mega Man X, Rockman | Mega Man Classic
Genre: Androids, Between Series, Gen, Ice Skating, Loss of Innocence, Mercy Killing, Science vs Superstition, Survivor Guilt, Tragedy, not about sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-15
Updated: 2016-01-29
Packaged: 2018-05-14 03:30:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 12
Words: 62,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5728048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ysavvryl/pseuds/Ysavvryl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The scientific method was created to combat ignorance by seeking provable truths.  But ignorance is a strong force in human society.  Two men seek to fight ignorance separately and find it a difficult path indeed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Battle Review

**Author's Note:**

> This is probably not how a canon version of the Cataclysm event would go, mostly because I'm focusing on the personalities involved rather than the fighting. But I think that's more interesting.

Dr. Albert Wily was in custody once again. Maybe it would stick this time; maybe it wouldn't. Dressed in protective armor that would have been suited for military personnel, two human police officers came from the only place they could land their helicopter, even if it was a good ten minute hike to the place where Mega Man was watching guard over his captive. The fortress had collapsed not that long after the robot hero had reported his capture. From the look of the steel framing and the degree to which the concrete had crumbled, it seemed like this one had been quickly built up and never meant to be a permanent fortress.

Officer Heath was annoyed at that. They could never tell with Wily's forts. Sure, they looked impressive and often had massive anti-aircraft guns and other such defenses in place. But whenever Wily went down, his fortress usually went down with him. And, in many cases they turned out to be cheap prefab pieces. How in the world did he keep working like this? The only thing Heath could think of (and deeply suspect) was that Wily's real fortress was impenetrable and had never yet been found.

However, he didn't want to place any blame for such failures on the hero in front of him, who looked over and smiled, something like a precocious child. One who could out perform and out shoot a Marine, true, but one who might not have the mental capacity to see deeper into an enemy's tactics. And a hero who had thus far proven to be the only effective thing at capturing Albert Wily at all. "Hello," Mega Man said. "Um…" he closed his eyes and put his hand to his cheek.

That was new, Heath thought. He'd worked with Mega Man before, but hadn't known him to be this expressive before. "Hello Mega Man," he replied, but looked to Wily. The old scientist looked exhausted, with dark rings under his eyes and sunken shoulders. The right side of his mouth twitched up repeatedly, almost like he couldn't decide if he should smile or frown. That was strange, but one could understand him getting a nervous tic after all these years of failure and frantic activity.

Then he got a radio transmission from Mega Man, even though the robot had not spoken. "Do you have armor which will protect against blasts? Just nod or shake your head, please."

Heath nodded. He wasn't sure how big of a blast the robot meant, as a large enough explosion would kill him and his fellow officer anyhow.

"Approach carefully, then," Mega Man said, still in silent radio communications. "I suspect this is a robot with a bomb planted inside him. He is behaving peculiarly. But I do not know for certain. Get something to detect explosives, and then we need to find a way to disable him and remove the bomb."

Hearing this, Heath tapped his partner, then spread his pinky and thumb out to mimic a call, then pointed to him and a slight distance off. His partner nodded, then dropped back to call in about this. In the meantime, Heath went up to what may or may not have been Dr. Wily. "Thwarted yet again, Dr. Wily? You never give up."

"It doesn't matter," the maybe robot said, still with that lip tic. "This is just a set back. I will have the ultimate victory some day."

"And we'll see to it that you don't," Heath replied.

The Wily looked up at him, left side of the mouth in a scowl, but the other side was still twitching. Curiously, there was no anger to his eyes, or eyebrows. Humans were supposed to be highly expressive in minute ways. But Mega Man, with the way he kept looking between this Wily and Heath anxiously, was being more expressive than the 'old man' in front of them. The officer moved past Wily's line of sight, pretending to observe what was around them (and there could be battle robots still around, waiting). But he turned to Mega Man and mouthed, "I think you're right."

The blue armored robot gave a slight smile, but not long as he kept watching Wily. Then Heath's partner came back over. "Hey, there's some trouble with the helicopter, boss. They're working to get it done, so we need to start bringing him over."

"Did you get the bomb squad?" Mega Man asked by radio.

Heath moved in front of the replica Wily in order to get its attention off his partner. He nodded, then took the replica's arm. "Well come on, old man. You've got nothing left here to do."

"You have no idea," the replica said.

They walked back towards the helicopter site, the officers on either side of Dr. Wily and Mega Man trailing just behind them. The robot boy had whistled for his robotic dog Rush to come back, and had him walk in front of the group. Rush acted much like the police dogs did, wagging his tail slowly as he was pleased to be of use, but serious and attentive. The replica grumbled a few times, but did not say anything out loud.

As they were getting close, Heath heard a second helicopter flying in. That was expected; they had gotten into the habit of clearing the fortress rubble with a bomb squad in case of traps which were left until after the fighting was over. With an unpredictable (in person; his overall tactics were getting sorely predictable) mad scientist on hand, it often turned out to be a good caution.

And Heath, his partner, and Mega Man got a radio transmission from them. "Our scanners are picking up potentially explosive materials on what is confirmed to be a robot replica. We are assessing the best manner to disarm it; please wait by the section of wall near the landing site. We are sorry to put you in danger, but we do not wish to give it reason to blow up."

Heath gave an okay sign to Mega Man.

The childlike robot nodded, then replied to the bomb squad, "They accept their duty, as do I. I may have a weapon that can disable him, so just inform me of what needs to be done."

"Roger."

When they got to the clearing, Heath and his partner led the replica Wily to a portion of fortress wall that remained standing. The outer edge still looked convincingly like it could be used for heavy tank armor. However, the inside potions painfully showed that it was just thin metal moldings.

The replica looked at the two helicopters, as some from the bomb squad chopper went over to the prisoner transport. "Lousy time to break down," it said, trying to smirk, but its twitch kept going.

"We might be standing here a long time," Heath said, still talking to it like it was human. "It could rain. We'll be all right, as we're weather proof. I don't know about you."

It grumbled. So Dr. Wily had given this replica just enough intelligence to carry on a conversation, and to recognize things humans might talk about. But those lifeless eyes, even with their blinking, gave the replica away.

"Mega Man," the bomb squad leader said, "do you have any ice or cold based weapons?"

"I do," he replied.

"Great. This replica is poorly armored, to disguise it as a human. Strike it from behind, preferably near the upper torso if cold or head if ice. The particular explosive we're detecting should not go off under cold conditions."

"Okay." As he was still behind Wily, Mega Man changed his armor colors to white and icy blue, then aimed his buster for the replica's upper torso. The blast that came from him caused little frost crystals to appear all over the replica's torso. Heath even felt a brief moment of sub-zero chills from being near it. He caught the replica's body before it hit the ground. Then he and his partner gently placed it down.

Then another robot came out of the bomb squad chopper, this one a reddish-brown skinned humanoid in black armor. He appeared to be a few years older than Mega Man, although both were older than that. "I've got this covered," Bomb Man said, giving a reassuring smile. "You two back off; Mega, if you'd help me."

"Sure," Mega Man said, smiling to him. The two Light bots then started a silent discussion between them of how best to disarm and disable this replica.

When Heath got back to the transport helicopter, he turned back to watch the two robots at work. Dr. Light must have been doing some improvements to both of them, he considered. Previously, the human like robot masters of the world had been just a touch creepy in how human some looked, but how lacking their expressions were. But now, Mega and Bomb here were acting realistic enough that they were kind of cute.

Cute robot kids that had more weaponry than most military elite soldiers did, he also thought. At least one could trust the robot masters that Light had developed. They were unerringly loyal to humankind.

* * *

 

Dr. Thomas Light sat in his office, reading through a scientific paper that Dr. Mikhail Cossack had recently put out. Cossack, while a great friend and a highly intelligent man, wasn't all that great at robotics. He had come in out of curiosity, but his interests were more in anthropology, archeology, and biology. Still, that unique background gave him a perspective on robotics that could point out problems and solutions that more traditionally trained roboticists could not see. In this paper, he was talking of how advanced robots might appreciate some kinds of music.

'In ancient prehistory days, early mankind developed music as a form of expression and enjoyment. The instruments used then were things that imitated what humans could do and what was around them: drums to mimic a heartbeat, woodwinds to represent a voice or a bird, percussions that were like a stream or thunder. Even to today, the most popular music types feature a beat that is like the human heartbeat or footsteps.

'In a similar fashion, what robots do enjoy music prefer that which is like them. Most subjects appeared to prefer strong vocals and electronic sounds. Their electrical power systems, which correspond to a human's heart and blood vessels, emit little more than a quiet hum. Knowing this, I asked a friend to compose a few song samples for the second round of experiments consisting of vocals, a background hum, and some electronic accompaniment. All of these samples, plus the other music samples used in these experiments, are recorded on the attachment to this file.

'The second round included twelve humans to match the twelve robot masters in the experiment, so results could be compared.' Past data tables, experiment notes, and many other things, the paper stated, 'The humans responded, in accordance with music theory, most strongly and consistently to pieces with drum beats like a heart beat. They reacted neutral overall to the electronic humming pieces, save for Sample R3, which had a steady wavering to its hum that also matched a heartbeat. The robot masters responded neutral to the drum beat pieces, but less consistently than the humans. They did react strongly and consistently to the electronic humming pieces.

'Peculiarly enough, the robot masters seemed to show the strongest preference, save for one individual, for Sample R3. More experimentation is needed, but in theory, robots most appreciate music that relates to what sounds their bodies produce, much like humans. Unfortunately, there is little of this particular electronic humming quality in most music, so it is hard to say what music they most like. But the most advanced robot masters, up to date within the last two years of technology, can and do appreciate music; that much is certain.' It then went on to discuss which particular advances in robotics could be the root of these robot masters starting to show an interest in music.

It didn't seem very important, this piece on robot masters and music. But Dr. Light could see encouraging signs in this. If they were getting to the point where robot masters could appreciate an art like music, then they were improving at an admirable rate. It might not be long until they reached the point where all robots became androids, mechanical beings that, despite how they were put together, could not be distinguished from a human in conversation and action.

He made some notes on the paper, then finished reading it. After that, he gathered up his notes, then wrote up a blog on it and another robotic cultural study. Some people had managed to express things about music in the form of calculations. And there was even an old program that could take a list of a person's favorite songs and then recommend those in its database that the person might also like. He made notes that perhaps if the music had a strong mathematical quality, more of the robot masters might like it. And did they prefer a woman's voice, a man's voice, or something that could not be readily distinguished? Would it be possible to teach a robot master to play an instrument? Not program (as that could be done... to mediocre results), but teach. Modern robot masters could be taught certain things, but so far, people had just stuck to scientific, mechanical, or mathematical information. Or teaching them simple service or manual labor jobs.

After checking it over for errors, he posted it in his professional blog. It was followed primarily by the scientists that he worked with, students of robotics and other sciences, and the occasional savant civilian. Sharing and talking about such information was important.

"Dr. Light," a girl's voice called out. Soft footsteps approached his desk; she clearly didn't wish to interrupt him if he was busy.

But he'd make time for her. He smiled and turned to her. "Yes Roll, what is it?"

She smiled back, her green eyes looking up to him (and glad for the immediate response). "I'm going to have supper done in ten minutes. Also, we got a call from the police. Mega Man has captured Dr. Wily, but it turned out to be a robotic replica with a bomb. He and Bomb Man managed to get it disarmed and disabled. The police want to bring it back here so you can study it with a forensics officer."

He nodded. "Ah, I see. We should have Auto make certain that it's deactivated fully before bringing it in. But it's good that they've managed to capture the replica safely. I do wish they could find where Albert's been hiding all this time. The pace of his escalations is increasing. Who knows what he'll do if we let him stay free."

Roll nodded, but her expression seemed absent minded, like she was thinking of something else.

"Is something else the matter?" Dr. Light asked.

She looked momentarily embarrassed, but then concerned. "Well I know it's important and all for Dr. Wily to be brought to justice. But Mega Man isn't the same as Rock. He acts so serious and single minded. When's he going to be Rock again?"

She had noticed that? It was an interesting sign. Rock and Roll were his most advanced robots, his most complex experiments. But while he believed in sharing of information, it was really only most information. And one of those things was how technically, Mega Man and Rock were the same being. But, they were also quite different, especially now.

"I'm sorry Roll, but it's a precaution I have to take with him," Dr. Light said. "And we don't know if another of Wily's robot masters or robot forces will show up again. Wait a week and then he'll be Rock again."

She smiled, glad to hear that, but still saddened to wait. The other robot masters could not manage such layered moods. "Okay, I'll wait. But you don't wait too long for supper."

He chuckled. "Okay Roll. I'll be there soon."

* * *

 

Mega cities were complex beasts. Especially the old cities, built upon their own bones, spreading upward, outward, and downward. They were so complex that even their governments and libraries couldn't keep track of everything. Older portions were ignored, forgotten, or rebuilt. In one such mega city, an entire fifteen block area of old subway tunnels leading towards the old city limits had been erased from their records. But everyone had forgotten it, and with the normal entrances gone, no one had yet noticed.

The old tunnels had been added onto. Now they extended far past the new city limits, coming out of a place hidden in the dying countryside. And the old tunnels were now reinforced with armor, a tight security net, and illegal anti-intruder weaponry. But it was all cunningly concealed with electronic distorters that caused the tunnels to read as potentially unstable grounds, not worthy of being built on any more. The city had responded to that by slowly converting the above ground section into a new park. But all that new green grass hid the most dangerous man in the world: Dr. Wily.

Deep below the subway tunnels, for extra protection, privacy, and space, Albert Wily had his personal laboratory. He rarely went above ground anymore, sending nonthreatening servant robot masters up to gather supplies and news from the city. Right now, he was reviewing data from his recent attack on the world.

And drumming his fingers on the counter. He kept glancing to a news feed, waiting on the trigger that would announce that something he was interested in had come on. Not that long ago, he had learned that the bomber replica that he had used had not only been recognized as such, but had been disarmed of its charge. He had planned for it to go off in court, knowing that it would kill a judge, some lawyers, lots of media folk, and maybe even Dr. Light. But now Thomas had a sample of his current work.

He would probably steal it for his own use and glory, Albert suspected. It infuriated him that he had never been able to prove that Thomas was a research thief. A great many professors and such had told him, back in their college days, that Thomas was not a thief. He simply took what information was made public and gathered it all into spectacular innovations and inventions. And he released all information, correctly attributed, in his own papers, unlike Albert. They had always gotten on his back about not releasing all the data he had found or all the information he was researching. Supposedly, Thomas' methods were the standard. Albert still thought of it as thievery. After all his work to get such data, he should be the one to use it.

Trying to avoid that old issue, Albert focused on his current data. Most of the rooms that he had his robot masters wait in were fully rigged with cameras, scanners, and all kinds of data gathering equipment. He used that to assess how well his robot masters fought, and how well Rock had.

He had already gone through and added more data on the battle systems that he had given the masters. Now he was on watching Rock and seeing what he was capable of. Rock infuriated Albert quite often. That little blue bomber had barely any battle AI during the initial conflict, which was supposed to be the last. And yet the so called Mega Man had thoroughly trashed his forces. Granted, most of them weren't meant for battle either. Thomas said that Mega's battle programs were intentionally open-ended. Albert couldn't understand how that worked at first. Specialists were supposed to be better than generalists. But the generalist robot master won every time.

At this point, he was accepting that open-ended battle programs were proving stronger. That, or Mega was getting enough experience to counter it. At any rate, he was trying to use that for his own ends. All the experience that the robot masters' gathered was getting funneled into one project.

Albert then noticed something. Mega Man's power output seemed strangely low. He was fighting with great efficiency. Still, something didn't add up. He had his computer take the scans of Mega's body, run some predictions on it, then compared them to the numbers he was getting. And this all pointed to something very alarming.

Even in the fight that Mega Man had the most trouble with, he was not operating at his full capacity.

He swore aloud and slammed his fist on the counter. Was Thomas purposely mocking him by sending Mega Man in when the robot master was running at maybe sixty percent of his full mental capacity? And what could Rock do if he was operating at full capacity? How infuriating.

Albert then went online, under a secured line, to check into what research he was doing now. There were a lot of soft science things that shouldn't matter; his most recent blog post was about robot masters liking music even. There were a few basic things, like improving structure, power regulation and management, and fine point motion control (what?). But nothing about the mental part and why Mega Man was not operating at a hundred percent.

Or maybe it was hidden somewhere in those papers. Albert downloaded the most recent ones to read later, then went back to analyzing Mega's strategies. He needed to fully reproduce this kind of thinking capacity in a robot… and even reproduce the limited use of it.

* * *

 

A week had passed and nothing had come up. That usually meant that Albert had gone back into silent hiding to plan his next moves. So Thomas brought Mega Man into his lab and prepared him to return to civilian status.

That meant downloading all the weapons he had copied into the lab computer for study, and removing any armor additions that had been made. It also meant taking off the locks on his personality data and mind. He had never meant for this robot master to become a fighter. Even if he made a surprisingly capable one, Thomas made sure to segregate his battle self Mega Man and his civilian self Rock. He didn't want to remove the memories of either time. But then, he didn't want him going into battle with his more complex personality.

Even human soldiers needed to learn how to focus when made to battle. They had to screen out some of what they were doing, including the innate guilt at killing another human life. Now that his personality was deep enough that he could experience such guilt, worry, and even unreasonable fear, Thomas wanted to be careful to keep these things separate for Rock.

Still, this was the fist time he had gone into battle form with this level of personality. How was he going to react? Thomas had already told the other robots who lived here to watch after Rock and tell him if he seemed to be unreasonable (from the robots' point of view) or needing help. He even momentarily regretted using him as part of his top development experiment.

But it would be wrong to undo it at this point. He reactivated Rock and waited on him to stir. "How do you feel, Rock?"

"Okay," he replied, opening his eyes and looking around. He sat up, looking down at his feet. Thinking, apparently. Then he looked up. "Dad, there was one time I wanted to call you. Just to call; I was worried. But the locks were supposed to stop that, right? Because I really wanted to. I didn't because I was in a dangerous place. It was hard and, I was even afraid some."

Had he developed far enough that the usual precautions might not work? "It's okay to be a little afraid in dangerous situations," Thomas said. "But I'm sorry you couldn't call me. I would have talked with you, though."

"Really?" Rock asked, leaning closer.

He nodded. "Really." Then he hugged Rock. Wanting the reassurance, the boy robot held onto him for a minute.

Then he let go. "Could I stay near you today? I'm not afraid any more, I just, don't want to be alone."

"That's fine. But I'm still doing research on that Wily replica you brought back."

"Oh, well… I can deal with that." He seemed a touch reluctant, but his desire to be near Dr. Light was greater than his desire to stay away from that replica. He slipped off the table.

"Remember, don't be afraid to tell me about anything," Thomas said, mussing up the boy's black hair. "If something makes you uncomfortable or nervous, we'll see what we can do to fix it."

"I know," Rock said, taking his hand as they left that room.

As they walked down the hall, Roll got up from a chair. Apparently, she had heard and waited. "Rock, hi!" She came over and hugged him. "How are you now?"

He hugged her back. "I'm good," he said, smiling a little. "I hope I didn't scare you as Mega Man."

Laughing, she shook her head. "No, but you're different and colder like that. I like you like this, as my brother. We need to find and get the real Dr. Wily so you can stay like this all the time."

"Yeah, that'd be great," he said. "I'm going to work with dad today."

"Okay. I've got to get back to my work too. But we'll play some kind of game later, right? Like badminton? Tomorrow's suppose to be a good day."

"Sure, that'd be fun. Is that okay?"

Thomas nodded. "Sure, you deserve some time off to have fun." But he also noticed that Rock was even fibbing now, acting more happy than he felt. Being able to lie, even on such a small thing as this, was also a new behavior that had not been programmed into them.

"I'll see you at dinner time," Roll said, then went off.

"See you then," Rock said, waving to her and taking Thomas' hand again.

He squeezed the robot's hand. "Why did you act happier for her?"

Rock couldn't really blush yet, but the rest of his expression looked embarrassed at being caught. "Um, well… I don't want to make her upset or worried too much about me. I, I'll be okay." He was quiet for the next few steps, then added, "It's been harder to change now. Is it because of the upgrades you gave me?"

"I believe so," Thomas said gently. "I'm sorry it has to be that way. But I believe the overall benefits will outweigh the costs. Inside you, you feel more like humans do now."

"I see. That must be why the human soldiers are reluctant to fight Dr. Wily's robots, because they're afraid too. But, if nobody stops them, more people will just get hurt." He smiled a bit, possibly honestly. "I realized that a long time ago and I didn't feel like I do now."

"Working with you is always a joy," he said.

* * *

 

Albert watched as his robot danced on ice. It spun in place without wobbling, it moved its body (especially the arms) to perfectly control the rate and radius of spin, and it jumped in perfect motion. Unfortunately, its landing wasn't so perfect and it slipped and clattered on the surface.

"It's always the jumping," he grumbled, making sure that the scanners analyzing the robot's movement programming caught the mistake so he could find out how to correct it later.

Jumping was a surprisingly hard task to get a robot to perform accurately. Getting them to lift their weight off the ground, and then to land without breaking anything had been the first obstacle. Once he'd got that down, then it was getting the robot to jump at the right time, for the right reasons. He still had trouble with that at times, leading to errors in the robot master's jumping protocol that allowed Mega Man to take advantage of them. And that had been one of the things Thomas had gotten right before Albert.

And in this experiment, jumping was proving the tough point again. He hit the intercom button. "Get up and run through routine 14 now." He had taken the ice skating routines from Olympic figure skaters. 14 had daringly included no jumps. If this robot could get through that one with no issue, then it was just jumping he had to work on. Again.

In most cases, names for robot masters were the least of his concerns. Lowest priority. They had no real need for them and he only gave out names to the ones he would be sending against Rock. And that was primarily so the media had something to scream and debate about. And he was pretty certain that this ice skating robot would not be used for combat. It was just something to test out the refined movement programs that he required for his main project. Thus, it only got the designation Experiment Number 2468.

His thoughts were broken up again when the skater slipped and fell once again. But not to jumping. This was in the midst of a complex twisting and weaving pattern, which was the other reason this particular routine was a great test. "Try that again, from the quintuple spin," Dr. Wily said.

The robot got up silently. 2468 had as little personality data as it needed to comprehend and follow his orders. And its body was made to be sleek, but able to handle repeated falls on ice. Getting back into position, the skater robot spun in place five times, then went into a wide circle with back facing inward (even leaning back some). Then it went into that twist and weave and…

Crashed again, right in the very same place it had before. But it got back up, awaiting orders. It couldn't even be disappointed like him.

Albert looked over the data, both on the weaving routine and the jumps. This robot had a highly sensitive balance program that he really wanted to get working. But the sensitivity on a slick surface seemed to be leading it to overcorrect or underestimate the forces in jumps and this weave pattern. Perhaps a problem with the calculations, as it was stalling on the exact same points.

* * *

 

Thomas was outside, in the back yard. It was a warm sunny day and Roll and Rock were playing badminton. But Rock still wanted him nearby, so he had come out here despite the fact that this was during a scheduled video conference. A few other robots were taking care of security, so Thomas simply brought out the things he needed to share with the others.

"Now take a look at this," Thomas said, placing a small device underneath the spot camera. It was a tube, apparently, cut open to reveal some tiny inner workings. "What do you think of this?"

"That's like a model of the inner ear," Dr. Oswin said. Several others agreed.

"Yes, that's very much what this is," Thomas said. "This is one of two devices that the replica had for balance. They're quite smaller than the systems used in most robot masters today."

"That's a smart move, taking clues from nature," Cossack said. "The program connected to both must have reviewed the data to ascertain how to balance and move."

"Yes; I marked that particular program as the inner ear balance system in the file transfer. It's not fully tuned, though. It's good for walking, even on rough surfaces like the rubble of the fortress. But it is not suited for running or close quarters combat."

"But it could be fine tuned for that," Oswin said.

There was a loud squeal from the playing field. It wouldn't have been picked up by the microphone, but Thomas glanced over to see what it was about. Apparently nothing, as the two were still playing. Maybe the badminton had nearly hit Roll.

"We should find the full potential of the system," Dr. Green said.

Dr. Light turned back to the conference. "Of course. Looking at all these programs that it has, and that it does not have, the replica was made precisely to fool the police along with everyone else, then explode at some point. I've not yet located the trigger instructions, but it seems to be a visual and audio clue. However, he failed to get the fine facial motions correct. That plus an error induced tic of the right side of its lip tipped off the police and Rock."

"Rock's gotten good enough at facial recognition to tell that?" Oswin asked.

He nodded. "And in his limited battle capacity too. He tells me he figured it out while he was waiting on the transport helicopter to arrive. Otherwise, it was supposed to have been disguised to a normal robot master's senses and understanding."

"How is he handling it now that you've switched him back?" Dr. Medley, the psychologist of the group, asked. "We were concerned because you decided to leave his memories alone."

Thomas glanced over at them, still playing. "He's been thinking and worrying about it lately. He hasn't spoken much on it yet, although I try to get it out of him gently. He has shown a strong desire to stay near me, either worried about me or feeling more secure when I'm nearby."

"I could come help you talk to him so that he can work this out easier."

"Yes, we had best do that. We can arrange that later. Also, I've seen that he can lie now if he thinks it's worthwhile. He has been trying not to worry Roll too much and at least twice now has told her that he's fine when I can tell that he's not. She doesn't seem to be aware of this, though."

"So we're hitting that dangerous gray zone where robot masters can't operate under simple ethical programs anymore, then?" Cossack said.

Thomas nodded. "I had suspected that it was possible now. I may need some extra human assistance here to deal with having two of them at that stage."

At that point, a white and red birdie plopped onto the table, nearly getting into the spot camera's view. "Sorry!" Roll yelled, twisting her racket.

"You two be more careful now," Thomas said with a smile, picking up the birdie and tossing it back to them. "They're very much like kids now," he said as some of he others laughed a bit.


	2. A Theory of Personality

Norton Daniels was the leading computer securities expert in the world. He wasn't all that great at programming. But coming up with security programs and testing them to their limits, he was a master of it. It helped that he had started as a hacker, only caught because he hadn't counted on the human interaction of his landlady getting suspicious about what he actually did for a living.

He currently had an antigravity office chair, which was great fun. He could elevate it to any height, spin on the spot (enough to make an intern puke), and easily push and pull himself across a room. Right now, he pushed himself off the ceiling and came down to his desk. "Hello there," he said, smiling at one of the office workers. "Care for a date tonight?"

"No," she said, bored quite much by the daily ritual. "Here's your mail." She then left before he could attempt to hit on her.

"Alas, the pretty office girl won't look my way," he said in an over-dramatic tone, but then he saw a box in the stack. He picked it up and grinned. "Yes! This ought to be more interesting than anything else." He opened it right up.

Inside, there was a black box. It had a screen on one side, along with a data port and an on/off switch. A letter came with it, with the signature of Dr. Light. What had he come up with now? He opened up the letter to see.

'Dear Mr. Daniels: As always, your input is valuable. I tweaked your modifications to the system and now I return it to you for further testing. Contact me whenever you have new data. Sincerely, Dr. Light.'

Grinning like a kid with a new toy, Daniels started to examine the box. It did not have any obvious seams or openings, but he knew how Thomas worked. Eventually, he found that a slit could be depressed to the side on the top of the labeled orientation. That would allow that side to slide aside, releasing an inner door which opened up to reveal the box's inner workings.

What he found inside surprised him. It was electronics, yes, but nothing like standard ones. He could not tell which little box had what functions, as most of them were exactly the same, gray with yellow stripes. Some were larger or smaller than the rest, but didn't give much clue as to what they were for. Norton brought out his equipment and started scanning the black box.

Technically, he was cheating. But then, hackers never played fair. The little game they were playing had been going on for several years now. Dr. Light had set up a program that would play the popular but simple game Farmville, with the goal of starting and maintaining a profitable farm. He would surround the player program with a security program to protect both the AI player and the farm. Norton's goal was to hack into the system and wreck the farm, or change the player AI.

At first, it had been about average program, something he didn't take long to crack. But then, Norton was exceptional and so was Dr. Light. The scientist took the suggestions the hacker gave wholeheartedly and improved on his security program. It got harder and harder for Norton to hack. Last time, it had taken nearly six hours to crack.

But now, to his surprise, he wasn't getting any data from the box, at all. No hints as to what boxes had what function, no hint to where they connected, nothing. As physically tampering with the machinery was out, Norton replaced the top cover, then made sure his afternoon was free. Then he switched the box's game on.

The game screen came up and the AI player began choosing his options. Norton had already hooked up a data cable to the port, and had a camera recording the screen. The AI player chose a nine bit password, then started to play. A symbol showed that it was connecting to the internet to make an official game of this. Quite the nerve Thomas had this time.

Norton got online and found the newly created game and account. He hacked past the site's own security to get at the account. However, something curious happened. An extra layer of security showed up between him and the AI's account. It was able to protect itself even when connected to a less protected server? Interesting.

He kept working at it, trying to find ways round it. He set a password unscrambler to find out the AI's code. However, that failed almost immediately; the box detected his attempts and sent a security report to the managing company. Norton pulled out of there and covered his tracks. He then tried hacking the box itself.

After five hours, he was having no luck. His supervisor came in. "Norton, just about everyone else is going. What are you doing?"

"Trying to hack into Dr. Light's newest program," he said. "Man, he's gotten good. I suppose I ought to stop for dinner, then." He went to hit the power button on the black box.

It refused to turn off.

* * *

 

Sex sells. It was an undeniable truth of advertising which worked into so many other areas. Albert found himself thinking that as he watched the gorgeous spokeswoman speak over a public address for a new political movement. She spoke without any apparent knowledge deeper than that which she'd memorized for this, but the presenters were not going to let anyone press questions.

"The world has fallen into chaos too many times due to robots," she said in a strong angered tone. Certainly a trained actress too. "We live in fear of the ones who go berserk, which destroy so much that is precious to our lives. And this most recent attack shows that any robot is susceptible to the workings of a skilled enough terrorist." Except Thomas' personal pet projects, Wily grumbled to himself. "It is about time that we say that we have had enough! We need to banish the robots and any computer that is pretentious enough to claim near human intelligence." This was met by a roar of approval; she was preaching to the choir in her live audience.

Albert thought her speech was a load of bull and anyone with half a brain could tell that. Unfortunately, most people did not seem to have that much mind power. Still, he watched her and observed how she put passion into her empty headed words. People would believe her because she was passionate. And because she was sexy, beautiful. As the internet too often showed, people did not want to believe that beautiful people could be anything but good.

It was something he had dealt with his whole life. His hair had always been untamable, never falling down straight. And he had bushy eyebrows and a sharp nose. People often joked that he became a mad scientist because he looked the part. On the other hand, Thomas had always been tidy, looking well kept, having a 'kindly' face (whatever that meant). Even with his heavyset body, people liked and trusted him quickly. Albert hated it, but looks always tipped the favor.

And yet, here he was contemplating how to make that work in his favor. It wasn't the first time either. He had asked one of his researcher drones to comb the internet and find out what people considered to be an attractive and trustworthy male just on looks alone. Whether it be rabid fangirls who could not accept a villain's evilness because he was 'way too hawt' or older folks saying 'that's the look of a man you can trust', he wanted a varied sampling.

But something bothersome had come up in this study. There were various kinds of the idealized beautiful man. Some were big, muscular, and very masculine; these ones were also considered dumb brawn, which wouldn't work too well for him. There was the older gentlemanly sort, but that didn't give off an air of strength and power. And then there was the muscled but not bodybuilder frame with a number of feminine features: long or unusual hair, a prettier face, no facial hair, among others. So one way to be a handsome and/or beautiful male was to be not entirely masculine.

This went against the core of Albert's beliefs and tastes. He was rather more of the intellectual type, but still believed that men should have masculinity personified. There were other options, but this long-haired pretty boy seemed to be a popular image.

Did he really want that for the project that was to make his name cemented in engineering history as more than just some predictable madman, for his ultimate and final masterpiece?

He watched the empty-headed foxy spokeswoman on the television screen. People would drink up her words and spew them back out to other idiots, if not pressing them to watch her for themselves. Like they said, sex sells. He was rather apathetic to it himself anymore. But, it wouldn't be a blow to his dignity to use that truism to increase the effectiveness of his ultimate project.

Yes, his final warrior would turn out as a long-haired pretty boy. Fine, so long as he was effective. But first, Albert needed to find out what the effect of having long hair was on a robot.

* * *

 

For now, Rock was alone. He sat on the living room floor, drawing on a paper on the coffee table. He was using crayon, but that was okay. It wasn't like he wanted to make great art. He was just drawing. And figuring this out.

His drawing of Quick Man was a bit shaky, not quite straight edged. Rock paused to look at the finished piece, then sighed. Years ago during the second Wily conflict, he had defeated Quick Man. Had thought nothing of it at the time. But that was then. He had grown since then, at least mentally. Now he wondered if what he was doing was right.

Sure, he had good reasons. He didn't want humans to suffer. And many of the robots and robot masters suffered too, in a way. They were reprogrammed without consent and made to fight, even if they weren't supposed to fight in the first place. In just a minute, he could think of several who had made really lousy fighters when taken by Wily. With these battles, he kept someone who was obviously bad from taking over the world. That was all good and right.

But, was it right of him to be destroying his fellow robot masters? Sure, many of them were recovered after defeat. They were cleaned up, reprogrammed to their old lives (and even better in some cases). They went on to live free, as Dr. Wily had never taken a robot master twice. And then, there were the ones made by Dr. Wily, who were never recovered, along with the ones that he had defeated too well. Those were never rebuilt, like Quick Man here.

Was it right for him to end their existence?

He hadn't ever questioned that. He hadn't been able to, really. But during this last conflict, when he had been Mega Man, he had destroyed one robot master so completely that it had blown apart into a hundred pieces. Mega Man didn't really react; it was a risk that happened. But Rock, observing mentally, he had been frightened by the explosion and the resulting carnage. What if he had been blown up like that? Had this robot master really deserved to be ended like that? They were just following Wily's directive, as that was all that they could do.

That was when he had wanted to call Dr. Light. He had been afraid of himself in that moment, or more precisely, Rock had been afraid of Mega Man. But then he'd reassured himself that if he didn't do anything, this robot master would have continued to send bombs at human buildings. It would have destroyed much more than one life.

Rock put the end of the crayon to his mouth and bit down lightly on it. Not enough to break it. He almost didn't notice, but when he did, he pulled it back out immediately. It was just a weird absent-mindedness. He could drink water, but couldn't eat. Even just biting down on the crayon, not to mention swallowing it, would probably cause bad problems for him.

There were voices coming from down the hall. He noticed that they were those that he did not know and Dr. Light. Feeling concerned, he put the red crayon down and got up quickly, then went into the hall. Thomas was there with two other humans, a young man and a middle aged woman. They seemed to be acting friendly with one another.

"Ah, there you are Rock," Thomas said. "Rock, these two friends will be moving into our household to help me in the lab. This is Dr. Carol Medley, a psychologist, and Isaac Sanders, who is coming in as an intern and apprentice."

He smiled, hoping that these people were good. Dr. Light trusted them, at least. "Oh, hello Carol, Isaac."

"Hello Rock," Carol said, shaking his hand. "I hope to be good friends with you."

"Hello, Rock," Isaac said, seeming glad to have met him, or to be here, but too awestruck to really say much.

"Carol wants to interview both you and Roll in depth," Thomas said. "So please cooperate with her."

"All right," Rock said.

Thomas then went to show Isaac around the lab, but Carol followed him into the living room. "What are you doing here?" she asked.

Rock sat back on the floor. "Drawing, that's all. I got my chores done."

She sat down and looked at the paper. "Are you drawing other robots?"

Nodding, he pointed out figures in his drawing. "Yeah. This is Quick Man… and this is Metal Man. And this one, I don't know its name, but it was in Cossack's base when Dr. Wily had taken over."

"I don't think I've seen many like that," she said.

"Yeah, it never got rebuilt." He pressed his teeth on the brown crayon.

"Why are you doing that?" she asked.

Embarrassed, Rock put it back down. "Oh, um, I don't know. I just did." He picked up a different brown crayon. It had teeth marks on it too.

* * *

 

Rock was in one of the observation rooms, looking over pictures. He had sorted a few out. But he hadn't been prompted too. Carol was with Thomas in the other room watching him. "He seems to be struggling to understand the feeling of guilt," Carol said. "Look, all the cards he's choosing can be related to the robot masters that he has fully destroyed. He seems neutral or likes the ones who were reprogrammed. But he shows a fascination with the ones who are gone that is on a morbid level for him, I think."

"Is he having problems explaining why they had to be destroyed?" Thomas asked. While it was good to have some explanation for his current behavior from another observer, he was still concerned. Sometimes he wished that he did keep Rock's and Mega's memories separate.

She shook her head. "No, he comes up with a reasonable explanation. But then he hits this moral snag in that they could not or would not be rescued after he fought them. He knows killing is bad, but he also knows that Dr. Wily must be stopped from doing the kind of damage he is capable of. The two ideas clash and he's having trouble resolving it."

In the room, Rock had paused in sorting the cards. He took one and seemed to be pressing the edge of one into his hand.

Carol pointed to him. "This is why I call it morbid for him. He shows a possibly subconscious wish to hurt himself in punishment. Whenever I've watched him, he's always caught himself before actually doing anything harmful. But on some level, he seeks punishment to resolve the difference."

"We have to stop him before he does hurt himself," Thomas said.

Carol nodded. "I'll do everything I can for him. We need to watch him carefully, because he might find some creative ways to do this."

* * *

 

For the long hair tests, Dr. Wily chose to use the ice skating robot 2468. He had shifted the skates from blades to anti-grav mini-hover units. It only lifted the robot an inch off the ground, but it reduced friction to roughly the same level as the ice. That way, he didn't have to continually freeze the floor to use this particular robot.

He sighed when the robot tripped almost immediately, its long blond hair scattering everywhere. "No, you're not doing your ice dancing routines. You're just walking for now. Get up and try again."

The robot got up, but had problems when its hair got snagged in a joint of his armor. It crouched down to get it free, then got back up more carefully to not snag it again. Albert would have to find a way to keep the hair from snagging on things like that again.

Pausing a moment to get its standing balance, 2468 got used to this extra counter weight on its head. It deactivated its hover skates, then started waking across the room. It stopped at the first step. According to the data, it had stalled when the hair reacted differently to movement than his metal and plastic body. The next step was a little baby step, attempting to adapt a new calculation for accounting for that motion. It would have to be integrated better in the final programs, but Albert let it struggle out a working calculation on its own.

Albert frowned as something occurred to him. Yes, he had copied the planned length of hair for his final project. It was very long, down past the robot's knees. This was because he recalled a bit of trivia that some ancient warriors held long hair to be quite manly. After all, if a fighter could keep others from chopping off his hair in battle, or grabbing it to halt them, then that warrior had to be very strong and skilled indeed. So he figured that he'd make this long hair a source of pride, inciting him to keep the more attractive length. But had he properly accounted for the armor and full weight? It would not due to end up with a clumsy warrior just because the programming accounted for a lighter body weight and different center of balance.

Back to the design table with this one, he thought. But it had managed to work out the calculations and was now walking normally back and forth across the room. And it worked out running calculations even faster.

And now, for the tough part. "Now try jumping," Albert ordered.

Fortunately, the skater robot didn't completely wipe out until it tried a running jump.

* * *

 

Rock looked over the living room, tidy as normal thanks to Roll. But the furniture was different. One couch had been pushed against the wall, while an armchair was next to it, also with its back to the wall. Carol Medley shut the door. "Okay Rock, you lay on the couch with your head here and I'll sit here."

"Why aren't we going to look at each other?" Rock asked. "You said we were going to talk."

"It's a practice of psychology," she told him. "I want you to speak openly and freely about what's on your mind, and not be distracted by things."

That seemed strange. But Dr. Light seemed to suggest that this was a good thing, talking with her. "Okay." He lay down like she suggested, adjusting a pillow so that he could rest his head against it.

"Are you comfortable, Rock?" she asked, sitting down by him.

"Yeah, I am." There wasn't much to look at from here. The ceiling, the wall, the back of the couch. The rest of the room if he turned his head.

They did a bit of small talk first. Rock felt relieved and relaxed. In years past, he wouldn't have known what to do with small talk. He could manage nicely now, and even surprise people who didn't know how developed he was.

Then something slipped from him, and he hardly noticed. "Yeah, I like drawing and coloring. I've been drawing the ones I remember."

"Which ones that you remember?" Carol asked.

He tensed for a moment. But then, she was nice, and she wouldn't mean him harm. "The robots and robot masters. I know a lot of them. But there's also some I knew... ones that I ended up destroying. Nobody wanted to remember them, so they didn't remake them into good robots. But I remember them. Even if they were bad robots, it's just because they had a bad person for their programmer and maker. So, I think I should remember them."

"Why is it, that you should remember them? Do you feel guilty because you were the one to destroy them?"

"Um, yeah, that's it," Rock said, feeling embarrassed and kind of glad that she couldn't directly see him. "I mean, I didn't think about it that way, most of the time. But this last time, there was one robot master who blew up into many little pieces. And it scared me when I could realize it, that I might be worse than them because I destroyed them. I tried not to destroy any of the others that much, but they were trying to destroy me too." He closed his eyes and shuddered.

Carol put a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, Rock. Think about it: why do you fight them?"

"To protect peace… well, that's what I always said. But, I kind of do it to protect my family, and friends. And if it protects other people too, then it's good."

"Right. And why do they try to destroy you?"

"Um, because Dr. Wily hates me and orders them to?"

"And why does he hate you?"

"Because I keep stopping him from taking over the world."

"Your reasons are more altruistic; you do it to protect those you love. And they do what they do ultimately because of hate. That makes you better than them."

"But it's still like murder, isn't it?"

* * *

 

'My fellow hackers, pirates, and electrical adventurers, I have something to admit. Although it greatly shames me, I, the great Nortisser, must admit that I have stumbled upon something novel. I have found a computer program that I cannot hack into.

'See the picture with this post? It's not just a cutesy little display bauble for Farmville. No, this little black box is the greatest Farmville player that has ever come along. It shot up the novice ranking tables and even cracked into the top one hundred players, all in a matter of three months. Facebook actually called shenanigans, thinking that it was a hacker and I had to explain that it was an AI program that I was studying. They have since removed it from the player rankings, although BBTulips is given its own special lookup as a novelty computer player. It can trade, sell, buy, or do any operation that a human can.

'I was given this endearing (I use the term sarcastically) little BBTulips by Dr. Thomas Light. Yes him, the robotics guy. He's been throwing me these tests of security programs he builds. This one finally has me banging my head on the desk as it continually eludes and evades my efforts.

'But Light agreed that as it was something to hack into, I didn't have to play fair. And yet, I have already ruled out physically tampering with the box. It can actually play dead, pretending not to have any programming, and then revive and resume its endless game with little interruption. And so, after racking my brain for three months (and getting behind on nearly everything else), I turn to you, my friends in the shadows, to help me hack into the account of BBTulips.

'The premise of this experiment is simple. The box AI plays out its little game and I do my darndest to get into there and ruin its farm, one way or another. At this point, I don't care who actually wrecks the farm, just so long as it gets done. Or even if you just put an obvious sign of a hack in there, that would be a breakthrough.

'Go ahead and try. Keep me informed of your progress, if you like. I won't bias you with what I've tried, but if you wish to commiserate with me later, I'll let you know then.'

Albert was intrigued. Thomas was testing a new security program, was it? And now information about his experiment had just gone live, even just the username of the AI. Oh, he would be more than happy to help Nortisser to break past that anti-virus program. But first…

Well, Albert had never had a reason to use Facebook. It was petty and shallow social networking. It had a well rated security program itself, but that wasn't much of an obstacle for him to quickly hack into a vulnerable inactive account and look up BBTulips.

'BBTulips is a research experiment unit,' the description page stated. 'It is currently held by an artificial intelligence, so any statements it makes are merely encoded messages triggered by some statements. BBTulips can be befriended.'

And indeed, this AI program had posted various pictures of its farm, and gave statements of progress that seemed like they could come from a real person, thanking other users for trading valuable animals and offering up Farmville items for trade. And it seemed to have a fairly robust Friends list, with people actually coming on to reply to an AI program.

It even included the posted statement, 'hey BBT, I heard that you're actually some little black box that people are trying to hack into. Good luck, little dude!'

To which BBTulips had replied, 'Yes, that is so. And thank you for your wishes. I will persevere to pass this test.'

Just like Thomas, he thought, to make even an experimental AI so likable that people were willing to cheer it on. Albert went to befriend it through his mask account.

But he got the following message: 'BBTulips is currently not accepting friend requests at this time, due to a security risk. Please try again at a later date.'

"Well there's more than one way to crack a program," Albert muttered and went for a different tactic.


	3. Androids and Electronic Sheep

Time passed on. Carol and Isaac became regular members of the household, getting along with the various robot masters and working with Thomas on his latest big project. They were all part of a rather strange family. Rock worked out his feelings of guilt and uncertainty with Carol and Thomas, breaking him out of his potentially destructive habits before he actually managed to do some damage.

And research went on. Norton Daniels returned the black box BBTulips to Dr. Light, saying that even when he had the entire community of hackers that he knew try to get into it, not one of them managed to even get access to the farm, much less ruin it. Some hackers kept trying from time to time, but eventually BBTulips ended when Dr. Light decided the experiment was done.

That was just one aspect of the greater project, which advanced scientist all over the world were trying to accomplish: creating a realistic android that people would accept. Robot masters were continually improved and updated, their behaviors and unintended quirks studied thoroughly. However, it took great attention to detail, as something that seemed small, like speech inflections, could end up causing people to reject the android as not human enough. All in all, it was an exciting time.

And no one heard anything from Dr. Wily. Was he dead, or absorbed in his own research? That was what everyone was asking. The truth was, he had plans for an android of his own, being made for a much different purpose.

But a new threat was rising to all the researchers, and it was in a grassroots political movement. At least, that's what the Authoritarians liked to say about themselves.

* * *

 

"Humans are the true authority of the world!" the speaker said. "Race, gender, sexual orientation, we have decided that none of that truly matters anymore. We are humans and we have inherited the Earth from our ancestors. We have risen up from the ashes of superstitious religions and found out the truths of the universe. And now, it is time to proclaim our authority over Earth!"

Loud cheers and whistles came from all over the field where the Authoritarian rally was being held. The crowd was deeply mixed: men, women, old, young, middle aged, black, white, brown, red, olive, all of it. The connection between them all was that they were humans. Their stand had taken things from the liberals, taken things from the conservatives, and somehow come up with a median that was more extreme than either.

There was one witness who wasn't human. No one had yet noticed him, hiding up twenty-five feet off the ground inside a robust oak tree. If anyone even bothered to look up, they still might miss the muddled gray and red armor this robot master wore. His scarf was bright yellow, but so were the drying leaves around him. Blues sat still on a part of the tree that was thick enough to obscure and support him, but open enough to give him a view over the stages and the crowd.

"And what can we do? Anything we darn well please. We can go into outer space and colonize the moon, or even Mars. We can control the climate of our planet with such accuracy that it will never again rain on a parade, nor go too dry when there are crops to be grown. We have driven storms down to only what is necessary for the balance of the planet, and we can keep them to uninhabited lands and seas. We can remake any delicacy that you desire, or take care of you so well that we may never need fear death or old age ever again. We humans can do anything."

"Anything!" some people in the crowd called out, getting others to call it too.

"But there are some things that still cross the line, things that we must be careful of," the speaker said. "There is no need for war anymore, yet we must keep our defenses strong. Why? Because with the mechanizations we have available, one insane person could ruin the entire world for everyone else. We must keep our resources well protected from such guerrillas.

"And there are those that wish to create robots which can match or exceed humans in many ways. And give them free will, the freedom of choice. We humans cannot allow this! The robots are far too prone to errors and are best kept with simple non-thinking non-feeling minds.

"There is still disease and hunger in the world, from the leftovers of tyrannies. We must end this problem quickly, so that no more must die. We must build Elysium, a world of unending peace and equality. And we can do this if we take out these last few natural scourges."

The speaker when on, but Blues was frowning. They wanted to reduce robot masters to mindless automatons that did any job the humans did not want to do but knew had to get done. Actually, Blues wasn't against doing such jobs; many of them were dangerous to humans, even to lethal levels.

But, giving up his mind just because some outspoken minority wanted it? He would fight that. Although actually fighting them would be the last option. And yet, his preliminary info gathering suggested that the Authoritarians were gaining popularity fast. Something would have to be done.

An electronic buzzing caught his attention, so Blues looked away from the rally. There was a robot flying around, but not a camera bot. A gray color with a large black W on it, it was a basic metal orb with large angry-looking eyes and a set of helicopter blades coming out the top. It might be a scout; it might be accompanied. While he didn't like them, Blues knew that it wouldn't be good to have Wily's forces attack this rally. He left his position in the tree and moved around to check out the grounds. Most of the humans were paying attention to the stage, but he still had to be careful not to draw attention.

However, the Wily scoutbot had noticed him. it stayed quiet, but kept following him around. After finding no other robot in the immediate vicinity of the rally, Blues left the grounds. He first avoided the parking lots. The scoutbot kept following him. Perhaps it wasn't sent after the humans, but after him. Why?

To figure that out, it would be best to capture the bot and find out what its orders were. He started running then, away from where all the humans would be. The last thing he wanted was a ruckus about disturbing this anti-robot group. And the scoutbot hurried to catch up with him, soon joined by two other orb bots exactly like it.

He got a mile away from the rally before turning and shooting out one of the scoutbots. It was destroyed immediately, which was a little worrisome. Wily could do better than that (at least, he should be able). Plus, being easily destroyable would make them harder to capture. Blues brought his shield up as the two others decided to dive at him.

But instead of the hitting him, they separated to either side of him, then set up a green energy field around the three robots. Blues saw the world go hazy, then reform into a black rocky beach. The ocean crashed against a rough shore. Further down, there was a plume of steam as molten earth came in contact with the salt water. More immediately, there was a heated battle going on around him. There were six basic hominoid fight robots around him, all identical in urban gray camouflage armor, with four more of their numbers destroyed. There was also another humanoid robot wearing a distinctive black armor with violet fins sweeping back on his helmet; by his side, there was a violet and gray wolf, snarling before he leapt at one of the enemies to knock it down.

Blues shot one of the generic fighters. "Forte, what's going on?" he called.

"I don't know," he snapped back. "Five scouts just snatched me out of my training and brought me here. There's a lot more of these junk heap bots too." He destroyed another one as he spoke.

"Want me to join you?" Blues asked, finishing off another.

Forte snorted. "Fine, but don't get in my way."

Typical response from him. But his help might get an explanation for this battle faster.

* * *

 

Rock could actually say that he was happy right now. He was outside playing with a remote controlled car, driving Rush bonkers with it. By driving it right at his companion, he could make the robot dog growl, then leap up and spin round, then playfully bark and chase after the car. After that, Rock would spin it around and send it in another direction, forcing Rush to scramble to match the shift. It was a highly amusing game.

It was a game. And there had been a long time since he'd last had to fight as Mega Man. He'd figured out that he was like a military enforcement officer or a high level police officer. It was his job to protect peace and bring about justice by fighting the robot masters that disrupted society. Even if he had to destroy those robot masters, even if no one would want to repair them, he was helping there to be less casualties, less damage done, and a quicker end to conflict.

And that was good. That had been his original suggestion, years ago when he'd been a much simpler robot. At first, he had been designed to use many different kind of tools around the lab to do many different jobs, including unexpected ones. Rock had logically pointed out to Dr. Light that this could be adapted to a fighting system so that he could stop Dr. Wily when he had stolen the first six robots and turned them violent. And if he got damaged, he could be repaired much easier than a human.

That was how he had started. But back then, he didn't have the emotional capacity to really realize what he'd been offering to do; go and damage, possibly destroy, his robot brethren in order to stop them in their crazed state of mind. That logic still held to this day. It had just gotten more complicated now that he had to deal with emotional issues as well.

But, what would happen if Dr. Wily directly threatened Dr. Light again? And Roll, Auto, all the other robot masters around here, and Carol and Isaac? That would be terrible and he'd be very angry. But he couldn't kill a human. That would be wrong.

Rock bit his lip, then brought the RC car back. Rush perked his ears up, then budged him in the arm, giving a sympathetic whine. He was still simple in a way, based on an animal. But even he could see Rock's change of mood.

He rubbed the dog's head. "It's okay, boy," Rock said. "I was just thinking. I need to find a way to make the shift into Mega Man faster. Wily might try to come here and make trouble. I've got to be prepared, to protect everybody."

Giving a silly doggy grin while panting, Rush licked his face.

The boy robot laughed. "Okay, I'll cheer up. I feel better that way, and so does everybody else, I'm sure."

"Rock!" Roll was calling him from the window. "Dad says to come in; he wants to show us something."

"Okay Roll!" he called back. He picked up the RC car, then patted Rush again and walked with him inside.

In his room, he put the car and its controller away in a toy box, then slid it into its shelf. Finding Roll in the hallway, he waited with her until Thomas came up to them. "Ah, sorry about that. I wasn't expecting a call."

"Don't worry, I just found Rock," Roll said. "He was goofing off with Rush outside."

"We weren't goofing off," he joked, grinning. "We were practicing."

"Uh-huh, with a toy car?"

"Hey, I've got to keep his reflexes up."

Thomas laughed and patted him on the head. "Right, of course. Well come on. I think it's about time you two saw what I've been working on so much the past few years."

His secret project? Curious, Rock followed along with Roll. She tugged at the old scientist's sleeves. "Who was on the phone, Dad?"

"That was Blues," he replied.

"Is he coming by?" Rock asked, hoping to see him again. But, his brother had done what he pleased even before they had all been upgraded to having fuller personalities.

"I don't think so," Thomas replied, a worried look coming to his face. "He wanted to tell me that he's worried about the Authoritarians and Dr. Wily. The political group apparently has some people in the global congress and they might be trying to take actions against advanced robots. And while he didn't say what he suspected about Wily, he did have to cut off his call quickly."

Wily might be starting up something again? Rock felt a knot of nervousness inside, uncertain if he was ready to go back out as Mega Man yet. To keep his mind off that, he pressed for information about the Authoritarians. "But more people like us, right? They shouldn't be able to do much."

"They shouldn't, but they're planting dangerous ideas. My colleagues and I would like to work against them, but they are using methods that appeal to the majority of people, while only some in the world can truly understand what we're doing. But, we'll discuss that later. Right now, you're going to see your new brother."

"Really?" Roll asked. "Great!"

They went down into the basement, where there was a hidden teleport pad. Thomas put in a password, which he taught to them, and had them registered as individuals allowed to access its one location. Then the three of them stepped onto the pad.

"I'm sorry, Rush," Rock said. "But you heard it; we can't take you. Wait here and I'll be back."

The dog whined, but went up next to the pad and lay down, to wait for them to return.

"Good boy," Rock said as Thomas instructed the teleporter to send them away.

They came into a lab that was much like Thomas' regular work lab, except without windows. Sun lamp bulbs on the ceiling took care of the lighting instead, while an air control system kept the air clean and fresh. In the center of the room, there was a work pod that was lying horizontally with the top cover retracted. Thomas had even thoughtfully pulled up two stools to the sides of the table, as the two of them couldn't see well from their standing position.

"I've recently finished his aesthetics build, so I felt this was a good time to let you come in," Thomas said. "Don't do anything loud or sudden, although he likely won't notice."

Rock climbed the chair on the left side, so Roll took the one on the right. Their brother was different from them. Although he had a youthful looking face, he was five feet tall, giving him the appearance of a human teenager instead of a child. He had black hair that didn't fully lie flat, a couple inches long with some variance, but not enough to touch his shoulders. He was only wearing a black jumpsuit now, neck to wrists to ankles, from which his armor could be built up from, whatever shape that was going to be.

"Does he have green eyes too?" Roll asked.

"Of course," Thomas said.

She giggled. "Then he'll look like Rock, but older."

"But I'm the older brother," Rock said, smiling. "He's cool. Are you going to give him armor?"

Thomas smiled at them. "Yes, I know he looks like Rock; I meant for that. But you both have some visual difference other than apparent age. And I will give him armor. Probably like yours, as I know the design works and there's no real reason to change it beyond individual adjustments."

"Is he going to be a fighter, like me?" Rock asked. Because maybe then, he could give up on it.

"Not exactly," Thomas said. "He will have the capacity to learn to fight. But that must be his choice, as it was yours. He has the capacity to be and learn many things. I didn't want to restrain him in any way by what's expected of him. I want to see what he will make of himself."

That was a little disappointing. But, Rock felt that was selfish of him, so he hid that. "I didn't know you could make a robot master to be that open-ended. What's his name?"

"He doesn't really have one right now. For now, he's X." Thomas nodded. "I'm leaving so much unknown and free for him to choose that he would even be able to choose his name if he feels something is fitting. X represents that near infinite variable. And he's not a robot master."

"He's not?" both of them asked.

"And in truth, neither are you two now," he said, looking to the two of them in turn. "You three are the culmination of everything I've been working for, a kind of robot known as an android, capable of possessing full human intelligence and emotions, including the freedom of choice."

"I don't feel any different as an android," Roll said.

He smiled, with a sort of sadness. "I know. The thing is, you two have spent so long as robot masters that you have certain expectations of yourselves. You can work past that, but it will take a long time. X is going to start off as an android, with a completely clean slate. He will have no expectations for himself, or to live up to."

"Wow," Roll said, impressed. She put her hand on X's chest. "So is he active? He's breathing." And yes, her hand showed that his chest was moving slightly, in regular rhythm.

"Sort of," Thomas said. "He's in a very deep sleep right now. I'm running his basic systems now to make sure they are all working under acceptable parameters, but his mind isn't fully activated. And, starting with a clean slate may be good, but it is also a dangerous thing."

"Why is that?" Rock asked.

Thomas moved aside a bit of X's hair. "While he has all the potential of a human being, he will not truly have a childhood development period. He's going to have to start off as a fully mature adult, as that's what people will expect when they see him. If he does not know how to react or act properly, then bad things could happen. So I'm going to give him the best approximate I can give, a mental simulations of lessons and tests in ethics and manners. I'm hoping that this builds him into a moral and mature character, but still without constraining his unlimited potential. The average human takes about twenty-five years to reach that state, but I'm going to be safe and make it at least thirty."

"But Dad, that's a really long time," Roll said. "Why can't he just learn with us?"

He sighed. "I would raise him myself, sheltering him while he needs development, but I'm afraid that I may be too old for that. I'm already having problems continuing to work on him. I had Isaac and Auto do all the finer parts under my directions, like all the work on his face. And Carol is helping to develop the ethics simulation, which is almost ready to run. And, maybe I'm being too proud and stubborn, but I don't want to put his development as a person under someone else. They might not understand what I'm trying to do with him and guide him into being one thing or another based on their wishes."

"And that wouldn't be fair, cause who he is should be his choice," Rock said.

Thomas nodded. "Yes, exactly."

* * *

 

Albert almost did not want to believe it, but it was true. He had both Blues and Forte in his personal lab again, inactive, constrained into work pods, his to do with as he wanted. While it was what he wanted to happen, he had fully expected the capture of these two loose cannons to be much more trouble. It did cost him a lot; he had put many resources into building enough of the generics to overwhelm the two. As well as finding an empty area to wear them down in, tracking the two down, arranging the temporary teleport lines and covering them up, sending what few active robot masters he had around to actually capture them, and so on and so forth. Most of his budget should be going into his main project now, so any wasted money was to be avoided.

Or any wasted resources at all. He looked at the one robot master left after the battle to capture Blues and Forte. While it had managed success, it was also badly damaged. "Go get yourself to Lab 5 for repairs," he ordered. "I'll handle things from here."

The robot master nodded, then limped off to the assigned room.

Knowing that the two robot masters in his hands were both vain beings in their own ways, Albert started by removing their helmets, taking Blues' shield and scarf, and finding any hidden weaponry and removing it. Or locking the weapons down if they were built in. That should leave them in an unsettling position of being mostly if not entirely helpless. Then he set up scanning programs on each of them before partly reactivating them. Even when he had so much work to do on his plate, he felt like watching these two squirm.

Blues stirred first, tightening his eyelids, then attempting to shift to a defensive position when he realized his usual things were missing. Forte followed suit not even a second later. The latter looked annoyed; then again, he always looked perpetually annoyed. Meanwhile, the former was trying to look collected, but when his eyes opened, they twitched about, trying to figure his situation out with anxiety. It seemed that Thomas had gotten really good at making highly expressive robots. Albert made a note on his computer to look into Blues' facial structure to see how those fine muscle replicators worked.

Then he got up and walked over to them. "It's nice to see you two again," he said sarcastically.

"You were really behind those stinking generics?" Forte asked in disbelief.

Blues glanced over at the voice, but they could not see each other. "They didn't seem like your usual work," he said, trying to disguise his nervousness by speaking slightly quieter than usual.

"You don't see a lot of my work," Albert told them. "Nobody does besides me. Now, care to guess what I mean to do with you both?"

"Force us to do your bidding and fail at it again?" Forte said sharply. "I've realized that you're the one who's been holding me back a long time ago."

He shrugged. That was to be expected of this old robot master, as he'd programmed that one's pride a little too well. "I suppose that's the obvious answer. That's not entirely true, nor is it entirely false. I brought you here…"

Blues' expression shifted; he seemed amused for some reason. And he didn't hold back in pointing it out. "To introduce us to your trophy wife?"

Faltering, Albert gaped a bit, then stared at him. "What?"

For a moment, Forte looked puzzled. Then he snorted and laughed.

The other robot master shrugged. "I mean, I knew a lot of human males your age liked to fancy young attractive women in order to prove that they're still important and powerful, even knowing that the chicks are in it for the money most of the time. But I still didn't see you as the kind of roboticist that would build one instead."

"What are you talking about?" Albert asked, then turned to see what they were both looking at.

It turned out to be that ice skating robot that he had yet to shut down. He now had a stand-in red armor that mimicked the weight and distribution of his main project's armor, as well as the long blond hair. Despite all the objects in the room, the hair wasn't catching on anything; that was good. But with him spinning around and still running through his routines, he did look particularly feminine.

"That's not what you think it is," Albert said, only to be answered by chuckles. "Experiment 2468!"

The robot tilted his head, then slowed his spin to a stop to face him. That was remarkable that he could now do that without falling down. As a non-combat experiment, his face was an expressionless blank, with only slight suggestions of a mouth, a stock nose shape, and black eyes. Still, he managed to give a poise that suggested attentiveness.

"Quit wandering around and go back to your usual lab. I shouldn't have to tell you to quit interfering with my work."

Shoulders sagging, the robot nodded and turned to skate out the door.

"Aw, but she seems like a sweet kind of girl," Forte said.

"A bit too passive, I think," Blues added. "But not surprising, coming out of him."

"That is not what you think it is," Albert said, turning back to him. But why was that robot showing disappointment now? Or even wandering about… a blank should not be doing that. "He's made for testing out certain things."

"Wow, Albert, I didn't know you were into that kind of thing," Forte said, getting a snicker from Blues.

Narrowing his eyes at them he snapped his fingers. "You two are going to regret that. Shut them down; I've got work to do on them."

That got them to get serious more than any more attempts at gloating could have done. Still, Albert grumbled as he started looking into their current data. That bit of reckless taunting was excuse enough to make them top priority (instead of second) for another certain experiment. That would surely bring those two back in line.

* * *

 

Rock found himself on the floor, tangled up in a blanket. His power was pulsing strong and he felt he had to do something. Get free, get away, burst into tears or scream, something. He opted to struggle out of the blanket, to get out and look about the room. But it was just his personal room, with his bed, a chair by an art table, a bookshelf, a case for his various RC vehicles. Rush whined softly, worried but uncertain of what was bothering him.

On seeing his dog, Rock felt like he could melt with relief. "Oh, Rush… it's okay boy, if you're okay, then everything must be okay." He sniffled, although it was more of a mimicking of human response than anything. As were some tears that fell on his face.

Rush came over and let Rock hug him. This was real and that had been a dream. But, humans had always talked of dreams being pleasant, a mixture of random spasms of the brain while it ran over the events of the past day. Rock's dreams were not so pleasant.

Not wanting to go back to sleep and face those things again, Rock got up and put some slippers on his feet. He hesitated at the door, feeling unprotected in just his blue flannel pajamas. But it was night time and he was supposed to be sleeping. He decided to head on out like this anyhow. He turned to Rush and put his finger to his lips, indicating quiet. The dog robot nodded, then walked silently behind him as he left his room.

The house was a different place at night. The hall lights were on, and there were night lights in the bathrooms, both for safety reasons. But every other room was dark, quiet unless it had a sleeping inhabitant. Pausing, Rock sniffed the air. There was the scent of humans and the scent of robots, as well as air freshener covering over many other scents. But no smoke or fire scents. No spilled blood or oil. No poison, no sulfur… none of that. But that didn't help much. If anything, he got tense again, feeling as if something should be wrong when nothing seemed to be.

Rush prodded him in the waist with his nose, nearly making Rock jump or gasp. Fortunately, he stayed quiet. The dog didn't seem to understand his current behavior and tilted his ears down. Rock patted him on the head, trying to reassure both of them. While it worked on Rush, he didn't feel assured of anything. So he snuck down the hall and peered into the other rooms.

Carol and Isaac were both in their separate rooms, asleep, and Rock only gave them a glance. He paused outside of Roll's room. On one level, he knew he shouldn't enter without her permission. On another level, he knew it would eat at him until he saw his sister safe for himself. So he slipped in, leaving a worried Rush at the door. Rock went quietly near her bed, and saw that she was also asleep, unharmed, alive, safe. Good. He walked carefully back out.

And then she murmured something.

Rock froze in place, looking at her. She was stirring. What if she woke up then and saw him in here? Would she yell, waking everyone else up? He didn't want to explain what he was doing in here so late at night.

Before long, she settled down, eyes still closed. The corners of her lips were twitching up, like she was trying to hide a smile. She was dreaming too. But much nicer dreams. Rock felt a twinge of jealousy at that, but pushed that aside and left her room before she really did wake up.

Out in the hall, he spotted a flashing green light. Rock stumbled, then tensed again as he heard his own fumbling steps. He recovered his balance and listened, but no one else stirred. However, the green light came closer. It was a security drone, which shut off the light as it got close. It had noticed him moving about, but did not consider him a threat. Just alerting him that it knew he was there.

He put his finger to his lips for the drone, knowing that it knew that signal too. Then Rock moved on to Thomas' room. Now Rush and the drone were following him, trying to figure out what he was up to. But they couldn't understand. He signaled at them to stay out while he went in.

For a moment, he feared something terrible. He would come in to find the room wrecked and his father gone. Or, perhaps one of those diseases that struck older humans had hit him. Rock tried to convince himself that he was being unreasonable. If Dr. Light were really in trouble, then this security drone would not be so candid as to use its green light. It would have gotten him up in any way possible.

But the fear wouldn't leave his mind until he looked. In this bedroom, everything was in order. The furniture was intact, no windows were broken, no books disturbed. And Thomas was there, asleep, breathing, alive. Safe. Not bleeding, burned, or dead. He was just there, sleeping.

Rock felt relieved again and brought his hand up. But he stopped before disturbing him. No, he was asleep, and it would be selfish of him to awaken Thomas just on some irrational fears. But he did want to talk about it, wake him up and be comforted. He resisted and left as quietly as he had come.

Now what? Rock was still feeling unsettled, so he went to a hidden panic room, where the security center was based. There was a robot master in there that he didn't seem too much of, primarily because he kept security for the house and lab at night when everyone else was asleep. "Hi Watcher," he mumbled as he came in.

The dark skinned and dark armored robot sighed as he came in. "Rock, what have you been doing in sneaking into other people's bedrooms?"

"Don't tell anyone, please?" he pleaded. "I didn't mean anything by it; I just had to make sure."

"You could have come here first," Watcher pointed out. Then he bowed his head. "But all right, I'll keep it quiet. If you explain yourself."

Rock nodded meekly and sat in the chair by him. He looked over the security screens first. There seemed to be little going on. "Haven't you noticed? I've been having a lot of bad dreams lately."

"I make sure no one tries to sneak into your room, not what you're doing in there. It's quiet, like most other nights, save for your actions."

He shrank back. "Sorry."

Watcher's expression softened some. "Are they really bothering you that much?"

"Yeah," Rock said. "It was really bad tonight. I saw the house broken down and burning. And, everyone was dead or dying. It was awful. I can see it so vividly, even when awake." He shuddered, feeling like he was about to cry again. "I just wanted to make sure that it really was just a dream."

"This building is very secure. Me, Radar, and Gazer see to that."

"I know that." He sighed and put his hands on his knees. "But I don't know if I'm supposed to be irrational at times like this or if something's wrong with me. I don't want it to be something wrong, because I know dad is testing out more complex programs with me and Roll, and he'd be disappointed if something was wrong."

"But you'd want to let him know soon," Watcher pointed out. "He is basing future programming for everyone off this experiment on you two and it'd be counterproductive for everyone to go irrational like this."

Rock felt a flush of embarrassment. "You don't understand fully… but that is rational, like you would be." He got up. "I'm going out to the balcony. Don't come after me if I fall asleep out there, though; you need to keep things safe here."

"If you insist," Watcher replied. "Just remember to talk to Dr. Light about this in the morning, okay?"

"Yeah, I'll remember," Rock said. "Thanks for listening."

"Any time you're up this late," he replied, waving his hand.

Rock left for the balcony, to sit outside in the cool air and think. Lights in Monsteropolis twinkled a few miles off, but trees kept this place from seeming too urban. There was no way to see stars due to light pollution, though. Rush joined him and soon has his head on the boy robot's lap. The dog robot watched him, worried still.

"I don't want to be scared like this, Rush," he said softly, hoping that the security audio recorders wouldn't pick it up. "But I've seen what robot masters controlled by Wily can do, all the damage they can cause. What if they come here again when I'm not ready? I, I don't know if I could revert to being Mega Man as quickly any more. I might… might not be able to protect everybody."

He stayed up through dawn, too afraid of that thought to fall asleep again.


	4. The Experiment of Personality

For the next test, Albert would have to leave his hidden labs. It had been a long time since he'd last done that. Months? Years? He wasn't sure anymore. He didn't see anything in terms of particular days, just in abstract terms of how many days. Whenever holidays came around, he didn't care. He had his own schedule.

But for this particular test, he had to go by the schedule of the rest of humanity. He let his computer keep track of the date and time; it had alerted him that he needed to get himself ready. Him, and experiment number 2468.

He had a suspicion that the last generic robot master structure he had stolen included a personality developing routine. 2468 was supposed to be a total blank, just following orders. With the way he was pacing about in the hall outside the bathroom, one would think that he was excited. Lately, he had been in a slump, not practicing as constantly and reminding Albert of some sad ignored puppy. He told 2468 about this test some time ago and the robot had gotten all fired up again, practicing even more and hovering around waiting for the time to come.

Sighing, Albert checked on the red wig he had on his head, as well as the dye he had put into his eyebrows. It seemed excessive, but people noticed things like that. He had green colored contacts in his eyes and a long black winter coat over his body. That, plus a scarf and a hat… and a voice modulator that made it sound like he had a cold and a paper face mask. There. That should be a sufficient disguise.

He grabbed a different mask and headed out of the bathroom. 2468 turned to him immediately and stood to attention. Thinking to himself that experiment robots shouldn't have personalities, Albert handed over the other mask. "Here, wear this. It's obviously a mask, but I don't have the time to give you a proper face. So don't take it off."

The robot master nodded and looked at the mask. It was quite festive, a full face masquerade mask with gold, silver, red, and green glitter decorating it, as well as a fake sprig of holly. Hopefully that was enough to get people to ignore his still face. Then the two went to the teleporter room and left for their destination.

Several minutes later, they were thick into a crowd of people signing in to an ice skating exhibition. 2468 seemed simultaneously interested in all the people around them and spooked by the crowd. He looked and watched certain folks, but kept close to Albert and didn't try to call attention to himself. At least that development worked for the scientist's favor.

Still, Albert kept his hands in his pockets and avoided looking at people. He heard all the chatter around him: how-do-you-do's, talk about the weather, pointing out the latest entertainment gadget, wishes of good luck in the exhibition. Stuff that everybody talked about, again and again to no end, without much thought into what they were talking about. And the wishes were shallow, with hidden messages of 'don't do better than me' and 'make me look good in front of all the people I invited', as well as others.

He closed his eyes, not allowing himself to grumble aloud. There was a reason he didn't come above ground very often these days and it wasn't because the police would love to capture him and put him on trial, eventually executed. No, he disliked all the hot air that people spewed to no end. Conversation should relate actual information, but so many people used words to play cruel games and carelessly ruin other people's lives. He had been a victim of such word poisoning long ago, and it had just kept escalating, putting someone less worthy on a pedestal and pushing him into the shadows.

They wanted to forget about them. He wouldn't let them. In fact, he wasn't going to let those shallow minds decide anything anymore. Once things were ready…

The line moved, breaking him out of his reflections. And then one of the staff was open, beckoning him to come over. He tugged his robot master from staring at a lit Christmas tree and went over.

"Good morning sir," the young woman said cheerfully. A large bell on a red cord around her neck jingled. "Do you have your reservation papers?"

He nodded and pulled them out of his pocket to unfold. "Yes miss," he coughed. "Sorry, I'm a bit sick, but still wanted to come."

"Ah, I heard that the cold going around this year is pretty bad. It's nice of you to come out, though." She looked to 2468. "So you're entering your robot in the robotics display?'

"Yes and no," he stated as he handed over the papers. "Two here is not meant for combat, so I entered him in the figure skating group."

She brightened. "Oh really? That ought to be interesting. Are you ready, Two?"

2468 seemed puzzled briefly that they were just using his first numeral, but he nodded.

The young woman smiled. "He is really handsome; you do your work well."

Exactly what he wanted to hear. "Thank you. I hope it's all in order."

She skimmed over, mostly looking for missed lines and obvious problems. "This should be fine. Do you have a song chosen for him?"

It was in the papers. "Yes, on that last page."

"Okay then. Good luck sir, and you too Two."

2468 bowed his head to her, then followed after Albert with a light step.

The whole show seemed to be exciting for the robot, as he eagerly watched the other ice skaters show off their stuff. There were human children performing what they learned in class and other robot masters demonstrating what skills they had for arctic or winter use. Later, there would be the skating superstars.

Then, an usher came up to them. "Two's on after the next showing, so he needs to go over to the queue line."

Albert nodded. "Go on then," he told 2468. "And put on a good show for us all."

"I'll show you the way, Two," the usher said.

He nodded with eagerness and followed the usher to where he needed to be. Albert bowed his head. "Please don't mess up your jumps now," he said under his breath.

Then someone moved into a seat next to him. Albert frowned under the mask. He had hoped that his disguise would dissuade people. Just to make sure, he faked another cough.

But then that person said, "You ought to take better care of yourself, old friend." He leaned in and quietly added, "Albert."

He looked and was annoyed at the white bearded face that met with his gaze. "What are you talking about, Thomas?" he asked back.

"You weren't particularly clever with this ploy," he pointed out. "I came to see how the work of others was going on; I don't have a robot master right now that I'd want to show here. So of course I noticed a name I've never seen before entering a robot master as a figure skater." He smiled at that. "You and I both know how much work it takes just to get them to walk, much less to do as you claimed for Two."

"Hmph, so you've got me. Don't let it get to your head. And it's experiment number 2468, but that wouldn't look good on the papers."

"Indeed. So he's nobody important?"

"Right," Albert confirmed.

Thomas shook his head. "That's a shame. He seemed to have such personality, even though I haven't heard him speak yet."

On one hand, it would be risky telling anything to what basically amounted to his greatest enemy. Then again, there weren't many people on his intelligence level that Albert was willing to speak to at all, and even fewer that would dare call him 'old friend'. "I didn't give him speaking capabilities. And I didn't give him a personality."

He gave him a curious look. "You're using the proto android build, then? It has to be at least version 4 to develop its own quirks from a basic blank state."

"Version 7."

"Ah. That's a few years old, then."

Albert made a mental note to check what version was most recent.

"So what are you doing here with a non-combat robot?"

"How do you know about that?"

Thomas gave one of his infuriating smiles again. "My robots aren't in the competition, but they are handling security."

"This is just a test," he said. "No more, no less. I just needed outside opinions, that's all. Those are hard to come by these days."

"That they would. What are you going to do with him after this?"

He shrugged. "It doesn't matter. Probably recycle him."

"I could take him in if you'd like; I'm rather interested about…"

"No," Albert said flatly. "I don't share my technology."

"Yet you take that of others," Thomas pointed out.

"Like you've never done that," he replied bitterly.

Shrugging, he said, "I acknowledge my sources and give them free access to my work and studies. That's basic…"

"Don't try to boost your ego and sense of moral superiority off of me." He still spoke conversationally, to keep others from suspecting something was up.

"If you wish. So what is 2468 testing?"

He considered it. "I'll tell you if you agree to tell me something in exchange."

Being the gullible fool he was, Thomas nodded. "All right."

"Improvements on balance, agility, and movement. I want to reduce the length of time robots are in their clumsy stages when asked to do tasks requiring great balance and grace. They can learn it, I've seen, but that task takes years. 2468 isn't that old. Performing under the stress of being watched like this will prove that it should work in any circumstances."

"Ah. That would be a help in many areas." He seemed thoughtful.

"And for my question," Albert said, "I noticed during the last conflict that Mega Man was not running at full capacity, at any time. Why is that?"

"He wasn't running at full capacity?" he asked, although he seemed to know it.

"I know he wasn't." He clenched his fist. "I scanned him in action, registering output heat, output energy, calculating what his current systems should be capable of. And he was running around fifty to sixty percent capacity with no obvious explanation for the rest. Even in the trickiest parts, his processors weren't running as much as they should be capable of, and yet he remained fully focused and adaptive. Why is that?"

"It's about that, then. He wasn't running at full capacity then because he didn't need to."

That worried him. "He didn't need to?"

"No. I found out that even in the early conflicts, he didn't have to. The extra capacity wasn't much, but I've increased it for his battle form."

"Then what are you using it for in his civilian form?" Albert asked. "You aren't one to let that much potential power go to waste."

Their conversation got momentarily interrupted by Rock himself. He was dressed in a holiday sweater, a pompom hat, and fuzzy gloves. In that, he could truly be mistaken for some young boy. But Albert knew his face too well to be truly fooled. Rock gave him a look of concern, then turned to Thomas. "Dad, Mikhail says that he'll buy us some hot cocoa if it's okay with you."

He nodded. "Sure, that sounds fine. And make sure to save one for me. I'll be back in a little bit."

The robot boy smiled briefly. "Okay. Are you doing okay in the cold?"

"I'm fine. I'm dressed plenty warm."

"All right. Who's this?" He sounded suspicious, although not as much as he should be.

"Just a friend I haven't seen in a while. But I'm not sure he's going to stay for long, as he has a cold."

"Oh." Rock smiled a little more warmly. "I hope you get better soon, sir."

"Thanks," he said in a low voice, but didn't dare speak longer and risk the robot picking up on who he really was.

"I'll see you in a bit, then," Rock said, then went back up to where they had been.

Once he was gone, Thomas said, "His processors are running at full capacity now, or nearly so."

Albert snorted. What a waste, to have him at full running capacity in civilian form, but nearly halved in battle form.

At that point, the audience was clapping for one act that was leaving the rink. As much of it was dark except for a few spotlights in the center, Albert had to look carefully to see 2468 emerge from a side gate to skate into the spotlight. He had his bladed skates active now, to fit in with the human competitors. However, they had placed him with the other robot masters. That was annoying, as he was the only one demonstrating figure skating. He would have accepted this one coming in after the kid students, especially since that would have gotten them out sooner.

"The next exhibition for the robot masters is Two, created by Robert Langley of Wyoming. Two will be demonstrating his ability at figure skating for us with a routine that he and his creator made."

"Really?" Thomas asked.

"He came up with most of it," Albert admitted. "I had him doing Olympic routines."

2468 came into the spotlight now, to a few cheers from the crowd. His mask sparkled and his hair was swaying slightly to keep him in balance. While he came to a stop to wait for his cue, Albert could nearly see him twitching, eager to go.

"I also had to dissuade him from using some truly awful music," he added. "I don't know where he found copies of those sickly sweet pop ballads, but he has absolutely no taste in music." It made Thomas chuckle.

"And take it away, Two!" the announcer called as the music started up.

There was a bit of a lead in so Two started moving to get ready for the routine. Albert still didn't like the piece of music, which was some semi-Latino dance pop song. But he had to admit, it worked with what 2468 wanted to do. Then the robot went into an ice dance routine that he had been running through over and over and over again ever since he had decided on it. There were quite a few cheers as people recognized and liked the song, or liked how 2468 was dancing to it.

After the minor parts, he started going into the more technical portions. Skating backwards into a curved turn, tight spins, the weaving, multiple turning jumps in a row. And then a triple axel jump, which he performed perfectly. There was quite the loud cheer when he did, as the audience started to realize that 2468 was really good at this. Albert felt relieved. He hadn't wanted the triple axel in there, but the robot had insisted on having it. Not once did 2468's hair get caught or in the way; it always flowed behind like a graceful accent. So that was working just as he wanted too.

Then the end of the routine came and there was a loud cheering and clapping from the audience, including Thomas. "Really remarkable work," he said with a smile.

Albert shrugged and gave some claps so that he didn't look too out of place.

"That was wonderful," the announcer said with enthusiasm. "So wonderful, I think that is why one of our guests, a professional ice skating judge, has come over to give some comments."

2468 dropped his ending poise and turned around to where the announcer's box was. With his usual quiet, he stood there with his hands clasped in front of him, the attentive pose that he usually gave to Albert when listening to orders. Albert frowned at that, not liking to see one of his robots do that to another person.

"Yes, that really was a remarkable performance, Two," the judge said. "The technique and execution of your routine was pretty much flawless, although the routine itself could have used some more professional work. But it was a marvelous display of a robot master's capabilities, which far exceeds my expectations in coming in to watch this. If you were a human competitor, I would have added that your expression was good, but could have been better. I'd give you a 9.5 for this if I were scoring it."

There were cheers to that as 2468 brought his hands up, in a surprised pose. Then he gave a deep bow before skating off to the exit gate.

"It would be a waste to just recycle a robot like that," Thomas said.

"He's not important in the overall picture," Albert responded.

"I do agree that he could use some more expression. Is that why he has a full face mask?"

Expression. That triggered something in Albert's mind. So Rock was running at full processing power now? And he behaved much like a child who was uncertain of who his parent was paying attention to, more expressively than he expected any robot master to be capable of. Albert looked to Thomas. "Just how far along are you on making a full android?" he demanded.

His old partner looked back. "Just how far along are you?"

The stare down lasted for a couple of minutes, while those around them chatted and mostly didn't notice. And then 2468 came back, sitting back in the seat on Albert's other side. Although he'd been started as an obedient blank, he was now bopping his upper body like some kid on a grand holiday. When Albert gave up the stare down to nudge him, 2468 gave a little hand sign over his mask that seemed to say, I'm very happy and if I could smile, I would be beaming.

"You did a beautiful job out there, Two," Thomas said kindly. "That's what we were talking about, right?"

At that, 2468 stilled and looked to Albert. One might even say expectantly, or looking for confirmation of approval.

He did not like doing that. It gave the unimportant experiment robots inflated senses of self. Which they shouldn't have, but due to the program he was running them on, they did. No wonder he had been seeing more and more erratic behaviors from supposed blanks.

He also hated Thomas for putting him on the spot like that. "Yes, that was a vast improvement," he admitted. Vast from how he'd started, wiping out on every jump.

Hearing that seemed to thrill 2468 even more, as he started bopping around again, behaving as if he were giddy. An experiment should not be giddy. Chuckling, Thomas said, "I'll leave the offer as I stated it, if you would be willing to hand off this one. I would much like to know what he'd be like with a voice. Good to see you like this." He patted Albert's shoulder and got up to return to his box.

And he would not want to hear this one with a voice. Still, even if it had annoyed him, he felt compelled to call back, "Same to you."

Thomas smiled and waved.

Albert turned back around and rolled his eyes. He could have just called the cops when he realized Albert was here. Probably should have too. Had he really just wanted to talk? Foolish. "Let's go," he told his robot. "I don't feel that great now." He wanted to get away from all these fools.

2468 stilled again, this time pointing out to the rink. He was enjoying this trip and wanted to see the rest of the exhibition.

Albert didn't care and got up. "We're going," he said, coughing once more to convince the others around him that it was due to illness.

Although disappointed, 2468 was still obedient, getting up to follow him out. But once they got back, the robot master got all excited again, going back through the motions and sometimes giving an extra twirl. Not only that, but Albert really did get sick after that little excursion, an actual cold that cut a week out of his work. Yet another reason to avoid going out ever again.

At least the message boards gave him the feedback he was looking for.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Somewhere between deciding that he was devoted to ice skating and describing him acting as a 'sad ignored puppy', I decided that I rather liked Two. So I gave him some spotlight time. He was a bit of an unintended character for me too.


	5. Introduction of Irrationality

A good portion of Thomas' days now were spent reading over data gathered from Rock and Roll's daily lives, searching for potential problems that might need to be fixed in them, or in X. He hadn't yet fully activated X's programming. He was almost confident that it could be done and his ethical testing started. But he was dealing with highly complex systems, arranged in such a way that they had never been run together in one robot before Rock and Roll. X at least had self-editing features in case of problems, but he needed somewhere to start.

And there was one doubt that was gathering concern, as well as support from the data. The scanners were showing unexpectedly high levels of stress in Rock. Most times, it was at an acceptable level, if higher in the mornings for some reason. Every now and then, though, there were spikes of stress. These seemed to collaborate with times when Thomas had been away from Rock for more than a couple of hours.

There was a human psychological condition that could explain it: separation anxiety. Roll did not display such anxiety unless Thomas had been gone much longer than expected, and she didn't show the levels that Rock did. As a scientist, he wanted to find out if the separation anxiety was caused by experience or by error; if the latter, he would have to make sure that error was not present in the other two. As a parent, he was concerned about this fear and wanted to reassure Rock, help him overcome this. At any rate, they needed to talk.

After some consideration, he decided to meet with Rock in the boy's room during the evening, when he wasn't expecting it. He knocked on the door. "Rock, mind if I come in for a while?"

Rock perked up and smiled, coming over. "Oh, no, come on in. What is it?"

Rush barked, wagging his tail. Thomas patted the dog. "Nothing in particular. I thought about taking the evening off to relax. Anything you want to do?"

Looking around, he spotted something and ran over to get it. "Oh, you want to play Tri-ominos? That'll be fun." He pulled the box of its shelf.

Thomas nodded. "Sure, that sounds good. It's been a while, but I'm sure I remember it."

After Rock pulled out his art table while Thomas got a chair for himself, they dumped the pieces into the top part of the box to start playing. A few rounds went by with not much past simple talk, about games Rock played with Rush and how fair he thought the household chores were being handled. The boy robot didn't seem to mind whatever topic Thomas brought up.

But how would he handle the important one? "Rock, something's been bothering you lately," he said, watching the boy. "What is it?"

"Um," he hesitated. Maybe not wanting to approach such a subject on a nice evening together? "Something is," he admitted. "It's just… I get nervous when you're gone. You always say where you're going, but then anything can happen."

"What do you mean by that?" Thomas asked.

"Just what I said," Rock answered. "I mean, I'm not with you, so I don't know if something bad is going to happen to you. Or if something bad will happen while you're gone, and I wouldn't be sure what to do. I suppose good things could happen too…" he frowned, puzzled now in trying to talk it out.

"Bad things don't happen every day," he said. "And there isn't much you can do to prevent everything bad from happening. We can't let that hold us back. I think that the world is a good place, generally speaking."

"And bad guys are anomalies, I suppose." He bit his lip, then looked up to him. "But those anomalies, they can be really bad, and hurt a lot of people. I don't want you to get hurt."

"That's normal to feel that way. So is that what keeps you up at nights?"

Rock stiffened. "Did Watcher tell you that?" he asked, seeming upset. Perhaps a promise had been made in the quiet of night?

Thomas shook his head. "No. I've been watching your data. So you are having trouble at nights."

Fidgeting, Rock clasped his hair. "Yeah. Some nights it's okay, but other nights, I have really terrible dreams that scare me so bad that I wake up. I even fell out of bed a few times… but don't tell anyone else that."

He nodded. "I won't. What kinds of dreams are you having that scare you so much?"

"Um…" he shuddered. "The lab was broken, but not like before. It was burning too. And, I had been away, and I come back to it, and everybody is dead or almost so. I know how it can happen too; the robot masters Wily takes over can do terrible damage. Those dreams, they make me wonder if, the next time I have to go out as Mega Man, if I'll come back to that instead."

"We do keep the home and lab on highest security when Albert is actively fighting and you're away," Thomas said.

"I know, but he could change, or become more dangerous," Rock pointed out. "The police were saying that last time; he could escalate. And he could try to destroy you. I don't want that to happen."

"True. We could discuss security again, if that will help."

"Maybe." Rock got up and came over to hug him. "Is it scary for you when I have to be Mega Man and leave?"

Thomas patted the boy's black hair down. "Yes it is. But I know you're doing a noble thing and it must be done."

It wasn't until the next morning that he could determine that this was not error based. Rather, it was because of Rock's past experiences in battling coming into a new light for him. But that just made it a harder problem to solve, for both of them.

* * *

 

Things were coming together for Albert. He was in his most secure lab with his ultimate project, the android Omega. The android wasn't ready for activation yet; he was currently running through baseline operations tests, like breathing and operating his hands without conscious thought. Even though he'd thrown everything into this project for the past few decades, there were kinks. Even after thousands of experimental robots, from non-combatants he mass produced to the robot masters he stole from others to study and use, even after all that there were still some kinks to work out. Like just now, he had to adjust the machinery of the left thumb so that it stopped twitching erratically.

After making sure that was just a mechanical error, he set Omega to run back through the full left hand tests again while he went back to what he had been doing. He had two projectors running, both sending up holograms of programming. But this wasn't the mere two-dimensional flat screen models that most programmers worked with. These models had more in common with three-dimensional fractals than flat screen programming. It was useful because his more advanced method of programming was quite unorthodox.

On one projector, he had Omega's programming. Some parts of it were flashing as he put his hands through their full motions, but on the whole, most of it was inactive. On the other projector, he had the programming of 2468. It was noticeably smaller and thinner than Omega's model. Albert used his hands to trace along lines of the fractal programming, occasionally reading bits of code to figure out where he was.

The ice skater robot had refinements to the overall movement and balance system which Albert wanted in Omega when he was activated. Like the special functions with his hair. Ordinary fiber hairs, he had found out, just were not suitable. So he'd gone back and found one of his recent stolen works, a robot master that had incredibly fine organs that were capable of independent movement, but resembled hairs. It was something like the cilia that cells used to move, but on a much larger scale.

At the length that Omega and 2468 had, the cilia hair could not move much due to its own weight. But if it touched against another object, the cilia hair would move away from it. A supervising program monitored the overall movements to keep the hairs coordinated. The end effect: this hair never got caught on anything, never knotted, and maintained a clean appearance. But all of that programming was in 2468, not Omega.

Once he found the relevant branch of code in Omega, Albert hooked one finger around it (although it was mere light) and pulled it up to zoom in on that section. Then he went to 2468's programming and went for the most developed section. At a basic level, it matched the other exactly. He made a copy of the adjustments and additions, pulled the copy over to the other hologram, and waited for the acknowledgment that the copy programming was recognized. Finally, he grafted the refinements onto the basic structure that Omega had.

Omega's programming just had to adapt to the changes 2468 had made. Albert read over the grafted part, checking for errors or gaps that would cause problems. Of course, he couldn't know for certain until Omega was moving around on his own, but he know what seven-dimensional coding was supposed to look like and what problems usually cropped up.

"Is that the Master?" a voice asked behind him.

Albert made a motion to save what he was working on, then looked back. Forte had asked the question, as he was looking over Omega moving his hand. Blues was nearby, but he observed the whole room. "I am your master," he stated, annoyed. "And just what are you two doing here?"

For a moment, Forte was going to say something, but struggled with the words for it. Blues answered for him. "We came to see the Master, but he's not awake. We weren't sure what else to do."

That could be a sign that the pack mentality for the followers was working, although not quite like he wanted it to. But Albert would have Omega's loyalty; that much was certain. It would work out in the end. "Yes, that is Omega. He's not ready for activation yet. There are still things to be done."

Quietly, the two robot masters looked to each other. At least they wouldn't be attempting to crack jokes against them this time. "He does seem quite strong," Forte finally said.

It was nice to hear some respect from those two, even if he had to force it into them. Albert smiled. "Yes. He is going to take down that dratted Mega Man once and for all. Even if the three of you were to work together, you couldn't destroy him. Omega is the last robot I will ever build, the last one I would ever need. The only one I need; anyone else is just a bonus."

"What are you going to do with him after he defeats Mega Man?" Forte asked.

"He is going to help me rule over all of humanity." His expression darkened. "Or, if the rest of those shallow fools prove too much trouble to keep, destroy them all. So very few of them put any thought into what they do, and I am going to change that. They waste so much, and ruin others for their own fame. There is so little redeemable about them; I can't stand being around most of them. I can make things so much better."

"That's a lot to pin on just one android," Blues pointed out.

"He is entirely capable of doing what I want of him," Albert insisted. "He will be once all the pieces are in place. I can prove it to you." He turned to the programming hologram projection and had it flag the portion he was working on. Then he pushed it in to zoom out. Even if it would take up time, it would be good to have someone, even these two former loose cannons, appreciate his work.

* * *

 

The virtual meeting of Thomas' circle of roboticists and android researchers was grim this time around. Three of its members were dead: Dr. Cossack had died in an invasion of his laboratory, Dr. Oswin due to a car bomb that also killed an android he had recently upgraded from a robot master, and Dr. Whiting who had died at a riot at a university. "It all seems so random," Dr. Kurasagi said. "But all three of them died in the same thirty hour period, along with other professionals in the robotics business. And I lost my android plus all the robot masters I had working for me. It's only because of what Spark did for me that I survived."

"I'm sorry to hear about that," Thomas said. "You were going to upgrade Spark to android level next, right?"

"Right. And still, he decided to do that for me when we might have both escaped together." She rubbed her forehead, obviously distressed but trying to keep working.

"So they're clearly targeting us and our robots," Dr. Nassir said. "Could it be the Authoritarians?"

"I don't think so," Kurasagi said. "They're still trying to make advanced robots illegal. These ones might be a radical off-shoot, though. And they must have some military connections. They had weaponry specifically designed to take down robots."

"The CK guns?" Thomas asked. That worried him. The CKs were designed to penetrate robot armor and send a controlled lightning bolt between the gun and the target. Most upper level robots were designed to resist such damage, but multiple shots or even a single unlucky moment could kill robot masters, androids, and humans. And some of the poorly made models could even kill their user, which these radicals had to know about.

She nodded. "Exactly, all the ones I saw had one."

"As much as I don't like having these armed guards around," Nassir said, "if they're using CKs, I'm willing to accept the military support."

Thomas had to agree with that. One of the army bodyguards was in the room with him, watching over both him and Rock. For his part, the boy was staying near him and watching the bodyguard. "Rock's not too comfortable with them either," he said. "He doesn't like weapons in the house lately."

Rock smiled a bit at the acknowledgment, but kept watching the bodyguard.

"That unnerves me too," Kurasagi said. "So Nassir, did you ever give an android upgrade? Otherwise, we just have Rock and Roll left."

He shook his head. "I wasn't too sure if any of them were ready for it. I'm working with many of the recovered robots that were under Wily's control. What ones aren't that way were abandoned ones." He added a text message at the end, possibly because Rock was listening in. 'Given that robots that have been through traumatic experiences finally realize what they went through when upgraded, I don't believe any of my robots would come out of it without experienced-based personality problems. Especially the abandoned ones; they have issues even without having fully free minds.'

"That might be a wise precaution," Thomas said, adding, 'Yes, given what we know now, some upgrades might turn unexpectedly cruel to the android or robot master that receives them.'

'I hope Wily keeps quiet, so that Rock can stabilize himself,' Nassir responded, then said, "I have considered attempting to make an android from scratch based on your writings on it, Thomas."

He nodded. "It's a lot of work, but it would be good to have the confirmation of our cumulative theories in two models built by different hands."

Unfortunately, Nassir and his robots were the next victims of the radicals' campaign against advanced robotics.

* * *

 

Sometimes, it seemed liked the world was going crazy. Thomas had said that their security was enough to keep the house and lab safe. Now there were armed humans here constantly, bodyguards from the army so that they would be extra protected. Not that long ago, he had been to ice skating exhibition where many people were friendly to him, and both robot masters and humans showed off their skills in the rink. Now, there were people out there calling for them all to be destroyed, even Rock and his sister. And that had nothing to do with Wily, for these radicals were against all robots.

"It will work out," Roll said, putting things back in the kitchen cabinets. "The police will figure out who they are and stop them. And most people like us. We'll be okay."

"You're still scared," Rock said, leaning on the counter. He glanced over to where one of the bodyguards was.

"Of course I am," she said, sounding mad. "Lots of good people and robots have died. And it's not like the Wily attacks either. None of it makes sense, but we can at least agree that Wily is crazy because we know he is. We don't really know about these radicals. I'm trying to figure it out. I don't see you doing that."

"I'm just not thinking about it aloud," he said, although sometimes he felt like he didn't even want to think about it. "If it'd help, I'd help them with security. But then I'd have to be Mega Man, and I couldn't really do anything about it since the radicals are all humans."

"Yeah, which wouldn't really help," Roll agreed. She put off taking something else out of the dishwasher to move closer to him. "And, I hope you don't have to be Mega Man ever again," she said quietly.

"Why not?" he asked, although he felt the same way. He just wanted to know why from her.

"Because you're different when you're Mega Man," she said sadly. "You're not like my brother should be."

"Well that's because Dad doesn't want me to be a combat robot all the time," Rock said. Also, because Mega Man couldn't feel sorry for the robots he was destroying, or be afraid of the things that were trying to destroy him. Rock could, and that made his alternate self frightening.

"You shouldn't be one at all," Roll said. "You might never come back, but when you do… I didn't notice until that last time, but it was like your mind wasn't entirely there. You didn't show any interest in the things you liked before and you also didn't enjoy anything. You know, like the really primitive robot masters."

That was because in a sense, Mega Man was quite primitive. But he wasn't supposed to tell anyone that (nor did he want to). "I'd be glad if I could always stay as Rock from now on," he said, patting her shoulder. "But we don't know what Dr. Wily is doing right now."

"Don't tell anyone this, but I rather hope that he is dead." She then went back to the dishwasher. "Oh, and shouldn't the mail be here? You want to go get it today?"

Being that they lived outside city limits, their mailbox was a short distance from the house. But even that had become dangerous. "Um, all right," Rock said. He looked over to the bodyguard in the kitchen with them. "Kevin, would you go with me?"

The man nodded. "Sure, but let me check on how things are out there now."

"Right." Rock sighed and leaned against the counter as the bodyguard asked about conditions over the cellphone he had. "Horrible, isn't it? That we have to be careful even going outside our house."

Perhaps trying to make light of it, she giggled briefly. "Right. Got to make sure that you won't get shot at while getting the mail." She stalled a moment, nervous, then picked up some silverware to sort into their drawer.

"All right, we should be fine to get the mail," Kevin said. "If you wouldn't rather I go down there on my own."

"It's okay," Rock said. "I'll just come with you to the mailbox and back." Although he'd rather go out and take a walk with Rush. And Thomas and Roll, that would be even better. They couldn't do that right now, though.

The bodyguard nodded, then left the house with him. Rock waved to Roll before stepping outside fully. Some daffodils were starting to blossom and the grass was getting green again. Spring as always a nice time of year, but this time, it didn't seem so happy. All the deaths of Thomas' colleagues and the robot masters remained in Rock's mind even as he tried to enjoy the warm sunlight. He had met them at various times and knew them to various degrees.

Some of the robot masters were ones that he had rescued from Dr. Wily (even if the rescuing required fighting them…). Like Pharaoh Man. Rock could remember seeing him battered and broken in defeat. Then, a few months after that, he had seen Pharaoh Man again, working for Dr. Cossack under peaceful conditions. Just a few months back from today, he had seen them both at the ice skating exhibition, the human offering hot cocoa to the others and the robot master stating that he would make an utter fool of himself if he got onto the ice, but as a joke. And now both Pharaoh and Mikhail were dead.

Was there any reason for why they had to die? No. Just some mistaken philosophy was Rock's best guess. He wasn't sure what those radicals were thinking either. But due to them, he and Kevin had to scan the mail box for explosives or other dangerous material before opening it. There was notification of a bill, some store fliers, and a pamphlet for a non-profit charity.

Then a flash of green and tan emerged from the trees. Kevin and Rock dropped into defensive positions, but the stranger still tackled the bodyguard to the ground. The robot had forest camouflage armor, as well as large knives sticking out from his wrists, on top of his hands. Before long, he had one knife to Kevin's face, one of the few parts not covered by his body armor. The bodyguard was starting to motion like he would try to throw the stranger off, but then the knife got jammed into his face.

Rock's power pulsed hard. What should he do? He had no weapons he could easily access in his civilian form. He could try to help take the robot master down, but he was not armored. But he also didn't want to see this man die, which was looking to happen terribly soon.

Having the human under control, the stranger glanced around and spotted Rock. He shifted stance, then jumped off the bodyguard; it sounded like he had cracked some of Kevin's ribs doing so. Then he grabbed Rock in one arm, pulled him close, and put one blade to his hip and another to his ear. He then looked around again, stating to someone, "You out there watching, be careful; I will stab him if I must."

"D-don't hurt anybody else," Rock stated. What if there were others, and they were going to kill everyone here now? Just like his nightmares.

"Hmph." Something flashed on the robot master's arms and they were teleported away. When they appeared on a teleport pad, he retracted his blades. "I was only after you." Then he shoved Rock ahead, keeping one hand on his shoulder. "But I am authorized to hurt you if you try running, so don't do it."

Rock went ahead and walked where the robot master was guiding him. As he was, he didn't have much choice. But where were they? It was a building of some kind, with steel floors and stone walls. There were no windows and some kind of communications screening was going on; he couldn't verify his location with a satellite signal. And there were indents in the wall that were eerily familiar. That kind of thing usually marked where some weapon was hidden in Wily's fortresses.

They soon came into a dark room that had a work station pod in it. The robot master pushed Rock to it. "Get in."

Right as soon as he turned around, the pod snapped out arms which grabbed Rock and yanked him inside. He struggled, but the machine latched numerous restraints on him, far more than something of Dr. Light's would have. The hatch closed up and Rock found himself very stuck. "What are you doing with me?" he asked.

"What do you think?" was the response. The robot master then leaned against the doorway, watching him as if he could escape from the pod.

What did he think? Anything could happen to him like this. He could be reprogrammed, or forced into being Mega Man, or slowly destroyed piece by piece. His imagination could come up with many things. He tried to make it come up with a way to get out. But there were all these restraints, and even if he did get out, he would still be unarmed and unarmored to come face to face with the commando who had captured him in the first place.

And then a familiar form came through the doorway, turning on the lights. He was old like Thomas, but his face and hands were rougher, with dozens of scars from solitary work over many years. He had white and gray hair that was a frizzy mess, as if less than minimal attention was paid to it. And Dr. Wily's eyes were much harsher than Dr. Light's.

Rock trembled in fear. He couldn't help it. He had seen what this man could do, the cruel things he made. He had heard the declarations of extremist violence and the wishes for tyranny. And while he had defeated Wily many times before, it hadn't really been him. It had been Mega Man, equipped with many strong weapons and the best armor that Thomas could make. As he was now, he only had his house clothes, sneakers, and the dread that an android could feel on facing their greatest foe so helpless.

He expected harsh gloating, mad grins, and that eyebrow thing that he liked to do. But after a moment of silence, Dr. Wily just nodded. "Here you are, Rock," he said. "No more games this time. We are approaching the final test stages. I expect to see you at your full abilities."

Then he ordered the pod to shut Rock down. The boy robot tried to fight against it, but it overwhelmed him too quickly for him to stand a chance.

* * *

 

Roll burst into the room. "Dad!" She ran up to him and hugged him, crying.

Startled, he left off reading the science paper and hugged her back. "Roll? What happened?"

"R-rock, he went out with one of the guards and…"

"Dr. Light?" The bodyguard that had been in the room with him returned, holding onto his cell phone. "We have to raise the security of the building immediately."

"Go ahead, but what's going on?" Had Rock been killed by those radicals? He hoped not, but there was that risk now.

"He says it's okay," he said into the cell phone, then held it down. "An unknown robot master attacked one of our men, injuring him severely. Then it kidnapped Rock and teleported off with him. Our support groups are working on tracing the signal and could have it momentarily."

Rock was gone? His first thought was that Albert was probably behind that. But that was so brazen of him, different than before. Sure, he had attacked the lab directly. But he had not yet tried anything against Rock when he was a civilian. That had always convinced him that his old partner wasn't fully corrupted.

"I asked him to get the mail," Roll said, shaking. "I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault, Roll," Thomas said. But things had to be acted on quickly. He turned to his computer and got an image from the security system of the robot master that had taken Rock.

It was one he was unfamiliar with and the army forces were unable to figure out where the two had gone. Dr. Wily was capable of both subterfuge and brazenly announcing his plans to the world. But what was he up to this time? And what would he do to Rock? The boy had enough troubles as it was, so he might come back in a much worse state.

But this time, there was just silence. No more attacks, no more kidnappings. The radicals still were killing roboticists and robot masters, but they would not use one of the latter. What was going on?


	6. Learning Through Conflict

Rock's programming could be read perfectly in the fractal hologram projector once his security program had been cracked into. That didn't surprise Albert too much. Back when he was still working with Thomas, they had theorized that one might be able to create 'quantum computing', as might have been told to a layman. Other sciences were proving that there were more than four dimensions to space and time, things on the atomic level. If regular programming could be written on a flat sheet of paper, then fractal programming was like taking that paper and rolling it up incredibly tight, so as to put it in a tube. It would take up less space on a flat surface like a desk. The fractal programming took up less chip space in the three regular dimensions by curling and coiling it up like a strand of DNA along four other atomic dimensions.

What had surprised him was the look of terror that Rock had given him and the reaction it had stirred in him. He had looked like a child who was suddenly facing death. It was so authentic that Albert felt some dormant instinct arise, willing him to help the 'child' and relieve him of his fears. But he was beyond such primitive thoughts and latched down on that impulse immediately. Instead, he dismissed his planned gloating session and spoke straight with Rock.

And now he knew why this had happened. Rock was now a fully capable android. He had triggered sympathy because he had been truly terrorized at his sudden captivity. From the looks of the programming development, he had been an android for quite some time now. Possibly even a couple of years.

Albert cursed and struck the edge of the projector. It didn't waver; it had been designed to anticipate such abuse. But he hadn't anticipated that Thomas already had an android. Probably two, given that he seemed to keep Roll up to date with Rock for some reason. While he was getting close, Albert wasn't ready to activate Omega. So infuriating, but hadn't it always been this way? Whenever he thought he had made significant progress, Thomas always turned out to be a step ahead of him.

But… he calmed himself… but he had taken Rock at this time to help him get Omega ready for activation. And to make him the first death in Albert's first true campaign to overthrow everything. He wanted to know where Thomas was exactly and that required looking into his favorite robot. Android, rather.

One thing he wanted, actually, was to copy out Rock's social programming to adapt for Omega. Maybe it was because he never got on with people easily himself, but he disliked messing with or writing social programming for robot masters. Thankfully, he hadn't needed to build a socially adept robot yet. And Omega didn't really need it. However, it could be useful. Should he come across a situation where he needed to get someone to trust him, say for getting repairs done or something like that, then having some social skills was better than having none.

Albert had a feeling that if he tried to make something, he'd miscalculate and get exactly the wrong kind of persona out of Omega. Like how 2468 had ended up. While he had Blues and Forte under his control now, he didn't want either of their personalities for Omega. Rock wasn't perfect (as evidenced by that fear), but he got people to like him and did not avoid company like the other two. Adapting Rock's persona to fit as a kind of back up for Omega should work.

But he would have to weed out a lot of the idealism that Thomas implanted into his work. No sense in getting Omega an overbearing conscience or flawed ideas of family and friends. And that fear. He wanted his last creation to be fearless.

Once he had that, he needed to get Rock properly armored and equipped. As much as he didn't like giving this little nuisance weapons, it would be necessary for this final stretch and he doubted he could get that one experiment to go back in after Rock's own things. That commando robot master had been built and designed pretty much to capture Rock; that was it.

Besides, it wouldn't be a fulfilling victory if Omega killed Rock in a helpless state.

* * *

 

Rock woke up from one of his nightmares, although different. He had seen Dr. Wily looming over him with strange tools, cackling as he pulled him apart. Shuddering, he thought briefly that he was glad to be at home. But then he recalled that he wasn't at home. He was in captivity, on Dr. Wily's terms.

Gasping, he sat up. He was in a work pod, but it had released him. Nothing was holding him back. And, he was no longer in his house clothes. He was dressed for battle.

He brought up his hands and flexed his fingers. The armor moved smoothly. It looked much like his armor, but in subtle ways, it wasn't. It was mostly a navy blue with accents of light blue. Thinking, he easily shifted to a buster, just one, and it read as having excellent capabilities. The armor itself seemed to be of high quality as well, like something Dr. Light would give him.

But how did he get it? And why was he like this? It was like he was supposed to be Mega Man. But, he wasn't.

He heard metal footsteps approaching. Rock climbed out of the pod; it was too open from the doorway. Dropping down to where he could view the hall without being easily seen, he waited. A moment later, a robot with six legs and a machine gun walked by. It turned a tower on its head and swept its single eye into the room Rock was in. He kept still; it stopped. After shifting its weapon a slight bit, it turned its eye tower away and walked on.

Rock clenched his fists. What should he do? He didn't know anything about where he was, other than some fortress of Dr. Wily's. And he didn't know what was going on. And, his family! How were they? Were they still safe? Had Dr. Wily gotten to them? Or the radicals? Or even those army fellows? This was bad, bad, terrible…

No, wait. The commando robot had only walked him a short distance to this lab. If he could just cross that short distance again, he could find a teleporter and go back home. That was good. Then he could figure out what was going on and what to do about it.

He waited a moment, then came out from hiding and peered out of the room. The insectoid robot was nowhere to be seen. Doing his best to keep quiet, Rock walked back to where he had come from. There was a turn right there, with a door that led to the teleporter room. Once he made sure that the robot wasn't looking his way, he went to the door. It slid up, allowing him inside. The room was dark, so before the door fully shut behind him, he flipped on a light switch.

It was a storage room, filled with all kinds of tools and spare electronics. No teleport pad. Nothing that even resembled one.

Rock felt unnerved. But, this had been the right direction, right? It seemed the right distance. He left the storage room and checked a door right next to it. That was another lab. He checked other rooms in the hall; he was sure that he hadn't left the hall. But there were no teleporters and no sign of where he really was.

He heard a squeal as the patrolling bug robot spotted him. He reactivated his buster arm and fired, then ducked into a nearby room. From the sounds of it, he had hit, but not enough to stop it. What now, what now? He should be able to do this. Mega Man was pretty much a limited version of himself, after all. But he had never fought as Rock before. If he could just revert somehow.

In the hall, the bug robot had stopped firing and was quickly approaching. He didn't have time. He braced himself, checked across the hall, then ran out, firing at the bug robot. As it readied its machine gun again, he ducked into the other room. Apparently it couldn't move and fire at the same time. But he didn't have much room until it didn't have to move forward.

In the next pass, he managed to destroy it, causing it to collapse onto the floor. But it would have sent an alert, right? Other robots would come, maybe even a robot master. Or many masters. He had no idea what Dr. Wily did with the robots that weren't recovered by the police.

He went back to the lab he had woken up in and looked around. He knew that Thomas usually put on the limiters to let him be Mega Man and he knew how it was done. At least, the idea of it. He'd never done such a thing to himself before. And, didn't it usually require him going inactive? He couldn't do that.

That was out. He was just going to have to try to be Mega Man on his own. Which meant that he had to stop being afraid. Think more rationally. He would have to be a robot master, not an android. He had to get out of here and make sure that his family was alive and safe.

That calmed him. Yes, that was it. Rock didn't think he could revert back to a robot master's state on his own. But there were so many threats out there to him and his family. He had to get back to them, to make sure they were okay and reassure them that he was okay. It must have scared the others so much when he was taken like that without warning.

Feeling more ready, he stepped out of the room and looked around again. While there weren't any more robots, he ought to figure out how this level was laid out. He started checking out the area. He didn't have everything that he would usually have when exploring one of Wily's fortresses. He did have a single e-tank, to his surprise, and it was full of energy. If he needed it, he could heal.

But why had Wily done this for him? Rock considered that as he checked out the rooms. Most were small labs, suitable for repair or modification work on single robots. Why had Wily given him armor, a weapon, and an e-tank? He had to have something in mind. Why would his enemy go out of his way to give him a fair chance?

A test, he recalled. The 'final test stages'. Perhaps he had some robot master that was more advanced than everything else so far and Wily wanted to test his new robot against Rock. Or maybe even an android.

In another room, he found an active auto-repair pod. Curious, he got inside and let it examine him. It declined to heal him as he hadn't taken any damage against the bug robot. But it did accept him as a possible user. Even better; he could use this room as a reference point in case he needed it.

Rock felt confident now. He could do something. But he still needed to be careful, as he didn't know what his enemy was like this time. He would press on, though, with the thought of getting back to his family.

* * *

 

Albert was still in Omega's lab, half working on his programming and half observing Rock's progress. The boy robot was definitely fighting differently than how he did as Mega Man. At first, he was irritatingly worse. A combat robot shouldn't get worse when working at his fullest potential. Rock was too hesitant, too easily scared, too concerned with keeping himself unhurt. Given Thomas' philosophy, though, he should have expected it. A robot master could press on to complete a dangerous job. An android had emotions and thus could act irrationally. And be afraid.

But it seemed he was getting back into gear, taking more risks and firing more accurately. He took on problems and got around them, anything from the classics like disappearing platforms, spike pits, and wall lasers to different traps like pressure plates, motion activated turrets, and gear puzzles. When he took out a quartet of totem turrets, one short cannon barrel stacked atop another six high and all being able to rotate independently, Albert felt that the time was right to start up the test properly. Besides, Rock had found the elevator early. Albert had to be careful of where the boy robot went, but it was time to unlock the elevator.

He turned to see Forte and Blues sitting by each other, whispering in the shadow of Omega's work pod. Even knowing that they would be obedient to every order, he was concerned. "What are you two talking about?" he demanded.

"You're going to have us go kill Rock, right?" Blues asked, not showing any nervousness or anxiety. "We were discussing how best to attack in tandem."

Shaking his head, Albert stated, "No, you are not to kill Rock. Leave that for Omega. But you are going to battle him, and you will each do so solo, not together. Understand?"

"We would be more effective as a pair," Forte pointed out.

"Too effective, perhaps. Battle him, hurt him to the point of him being defeated if you can, but do not kill him. I can't conduct these last tests if he's utterly destroyed."

"Should we bring him under the control of Master Omega?" Blues asked, tugging at his signature yellow scarf.

That caused him to pause. It would be nice to have Rock obedient too. But no, that little blue pest had caused him so much trouble, especially before he started using his 'wars' as full active experiments for Omega. "No, don't affect him that way either," Albert said. "I didn't see any reference to BBTulips in his programming; it certainly didn't stop me. But he must have some kind of protection. It makes no sense for Thomas not to give his best android his highest security program. He may be resistant. But in any case, no, I want him destroyed by Omega when fighting at his full capacity. That will prove once and for all that I am better than Thomas Light."

"Then are we going out to battle him now?" Blues asked.

He nodded. "Yes. Forte, you meet him in the level 6 battle room. Blues, you go to level 5's battle room. I'll make sure he gets to you both in turn."

* * *

 

Rock's absence affected the whole household, but differently this time. Normally Thomas could get updates from the military forces who watched over him, but they could not help this time. He spent a lot of time scanning over news websites and talking to other roboticists (what ones were left) for any clues as to where Rock or Albert was. Isaac ended up taking over more of the on-going work and Carol tried to help as many as she could. The robot masters of the household were quieter, more cautious in what they did.

Thomas noticed the most change in Roll and Rush, though. Roll continued her house work with the robots that always helped her, but seemed a lot unhappier about it. She worked as if to keep her mind off things and would fiddle about if there was nothing else that needed attention. And instead of Rock constantly checking in on him, Roll often came looking for Thomas. She asked if there was any news, or anything she could do for him. Feeling concerned that this child might be taken from him too, Thomas often gave her small jobs so that she could be in the same room as him. While it was usually something simple enough that a robot could do it, she took any such tasks willingly and talked with him. Sometimes about her fears, sometimes to keep her mind off them.

And Rush, he was programmed with a high level animal intelligence. That meant that he knew his partner was gone and was depressed about it. Rush would often lie in Rock's room, sleeping to ignore his sadness. Or he would be near one of the teleporters or the outside doors, waiting to see if Rock was coming back or if he would be sent to his boy. When others passed, he would perk his ears up hopefully, but then drop them back down when he realized that he wasn't being sent to help Rock.

As the days went by and there was no news of Albert, Rock, or that commando robot master, Thomas turned back to his work on X. He checked over what Isaac was doing and made sure things were gong smoothly. X had been partially activated; his mind was active, but in a state like deep dreaming while he was running through a long time ethical simulation. Because of that, he couldn't make major changes without shutting him down, clearing out what he had experienced in his virtual games, and starting over again. Thomas didn't want to do that. But he had seen that it was safe to make minor adjustments to active robot masters and androids provided the shifts were watched carefully so they didn't crop up with an error. But then X also had several layers of self checks for errors, hacking, and infections, including the security shielding he had put on the BBTulips experiment. He made sure that he knew about any adjustments made to X.

He still knew that this work was much like Roll's losing herself to her chores and Rush's tendency to sleep more now. Something to do when he was truly worried about what had happened to his missing son. Even if they were robots, Thomas felt that close to them.

And there was also a growing concern that he had not heard from Blues in some time either.

* * *

 

Rock was concerned about this room. It was large and open, with reinforced walls and thick sliding doors. To him, it was all too much like most of the rooms he had fought robot masters in. Thus, he was quite certain that he would be attacked if he fully went in there.

But he was running out of options. The elevator would not give him access to any other levels of this place aside from this one 6 and the last one 7. And given how large level 7 had been, there had to be more to level 6 that he had not yet found. Perhaps another elevator? A teleporter? A way to get access to more places? But to get to those possible places, he had to go through this boss room.

He went in, checking the place out. There were a few barriers in the room, made up of tall particle board covered in a felt and placed on wheels. Strange and flimsy, but it offered someplace for a boss to hide. The walls were stone like the rest of this place, like it had been carved out from a cave. There were no obvious traps, unless something was hidden behind the mobile barriers.

Something struck him on his helmet. Not enough to pierce or even dent it, but enough to make a sound and clatter onto the floor. Rock turned, but didn't see anyone immediately. He looked down at the object, some strangely formed metal cylinder. At first, he thought it might be a bomb and backed off. However, when he scanned over it, it showed no explosive potential. It did have a plasma battery. Curious. He glanced around, then picked the object up. There was a sliding switch on the side, so he pushed it down.

The end he was holding towards the ground released a glowing mass of orange plasma. But not into a bullet as he would have expected. No, this formed a rod of energy that somehow maintained its shape. There was a hiss from its inner machinery. Carefully, he flipped it around so he was holding the rod upright. This was like something from a science fiction movie.

"Do you know how to use a plasma blade, Rock?" he heard from the direction that it had been thrown from.

Rock looked up and saw a robot master standing near one of the barriers. He had roughened black armor and long violet fins that came off his helmet. Forte? What was he doing here? Rock could never be sure what side this self-proclaimed rival was on. "No I don't, Forte," he replied.

"Hmph." He flicked his hands out, activating thick gloves to form around them. The ends of them had five small plasma blades on each hand, formed much like the metal blade that the commando robot master had wielded. "Then you had better learn fast." He dashed right for Rock.

At first, Rock dashed to the side and fired his buster at Forte. He had never liked close combat weapons. Even if he was not afraid as Mega Man, it made more sense to deal with the enemy at a distance. But Forte wasn't going to let him get away with this. He let loose a burst of electrical power to strike Rock. It didn't really do damage, although the tingling sensation hurt and there was always that off chance of electrical energy causing major problems.

"Drop your cowardly gun and fight like man," Forte growled, then came over to punch Rock.

That phrase wasn't really accurate… no, Rock couldn't let himself get distracted. He brought the rod blade up and managed to catch the plasma claws on Forte's gloves. The clash forced both weapons apart, making them stumble. Recovering first, Rock made a downward slash with the plasma blade. Some of his special weapons in the past had acted like that. Forte managed to dodge the slash and came in for another punch. Strangely, he missed with the blades and ended up slamming the glove part into Rock's shoulder instead.

Taking advantage of that, Rock attempted to bring the blade back up and slash through Forte's arm. This weapon had very little weight to it, so it wasn't like trying to use a metal rod to club someone with. It moved quickly. Before he fully realized it, he saw that he had lopped off Forte's hand cleanly. The metal hissed and ran slightly as the superhot plasma melted it, although it rapidly cooled off and hardened.

He felt momentarily frightened at the effect. He had a weapon that, while so light, could do that? Forte's armor was made of one of the toughest materials Rock had ever encountered. He never took damage like this before. While Rock was shocked, Forte winced but went to strike with his other glove. But, in the same manner as before, not actually using the plasma blades and slamming into him from the side.

"What are you doing?" Rock asked as he stepped back.

"You wouldn't understand," Forte replied, lunging for him again. "Things have changed and you must change with it or you will die for it. Everyone will die for it."

Rock blocked him again with the blade. "For what?"

He shook his head. "Don't try to have mercy. I am under the grip of the Master. Omega is not awake yet, and still," he dropped down, then made and upwards punch with the bladed glove. When Rock stepped back out of range, he held the glove blades pointed at him. "I am not fully myself any more. When the Master awakens, only his will will matter. While he remains unborn, I stand in your way to him. You will learn or you will die for it later." He tried the upwards punch again.

This time, Rock got out of the way and sliced off that glove. Forte merely smiled and flicked his hands again. The gloves, plasma claws and all, reformed. And so his 'lesson' continued.

Eventually, Rock managed to cut off Forte's legs from the knees down and get rid of those bladed gloves. But then, the plasma blade sputtered and went out. A quick check showed that its battery was dead. A highly draining weapon, it seemed.

Forte was trying to remain upright, on the stubs of his knees and wrists, not willing to fall completely yet. He looked up to Rock. "Don't try to have mercy on me," he repeated.

Alarm and dread filled Rock's mind. He shook his head. "B-but Forte… I couldn't destroy you. You…" he wanted to say something about how Forte had striven to escape Dr. Wily's control and be his own robot.

But Forte just snorted. "Innocent fool," he muttered, right before he was teleported away.

What was that? Rock felt bewildered. He had never ever had someone ask to be destroyed before. No one wanted that.

Right?

* * *

 

"Just this morning, the Law of Robotics Control went into effect. This laws makes it illegal to build, use, develop, repair, or own robots that are considered to have human level intelligence. Low intelligence mechaniloids and animal intelligence robots are not affected by this law, but the vast majority of all robot masters currently operating do fall under the jurisdiction of this law. Such robots are to be handed over to the government for assessment and determination of potential danger to humanity. Dangerous models will be immediately eliminated, while harmless models will be placed under restrictions and careful watch to ensure that they do not become dangerous.

"A great many people are showing concern about this law, as robot masters cover a lot of jobs that are dangerous, even deadly, for humans to perform. There is a call for a grandfather clause to allow current robot masters to be maintained in such positions, even if their programming must be further restricted so that they are of no danger to humankind. They also comment that this validates the actions of the extremist radicals who have recently been murdering robotic scientists and their creations, giving them more authority to kill whomever they believe is capable of making so-called dangerous machinery. Others are concerned because the most dangerous robots in the world come from Dr. Wily and those who aspire to be like him. Such people will not be concerned about this law and may even celebrate it as it gets rid of the robot masters who can fight against them.

"A press conference has been called to address such issues; we will be showing it live within the hour when the head of the global senate arrives to begin…"

"I can't believe they passed that bill so fast," Isaac said. He, Thomas, and Carol were all sitting in the living room watching the announcement. "They weren't even supposed to have it in consideration and vote until next month."

Thomas sighed and lowered his head. He'd been afraid of this happening ever since the proposal came up. "They pushed it early so that we would not be able to properly respond. I want to put trust into the system so that we can get it revoked in court before they start acting on it. But, the fact that something like this got to being a global law, it's…" terrible? Disenchanting? Heart breaking?

Probably heart breaking.

In the loveseat of the room, Roll was sitting with Rush. She had shrunk down, afraid. "Are they really going to take us all away?" she asked. "What's going to happen to us?"

"You'll probably be okay," Isaac said. "They shouldn't find anything dangerous about you."

"But what about Rock?" she asked.

What about Rock? That could only end badly. That is, if things hadn't already ended badly for him. What was the world coming to, Thomas thought, when everything that he had worked towards and built up to was unraveling due to something beyond his control?

* * *

 

With an elevator key he had found past the boss room Forte had been in, Rock was able to get up to level 5. But no further than that. He went back to level 7 to heal up and restore the blade's battery, then went up to 5. Exploring around brought him to yet another boss room.

There were no barriers in this room, just a number of floating platforms. And the robot master inside wasn't hiding. But, it still surprised him when he saw the tan armored robot sitting in the middle of the floor, with his head on his knees and his arms around his legs. Rock ran in, ignoring the shutting door behind him. "Blues! Is something wrong?"

He snapped to attention, looking up at Rock. Then he brought one hand up to the side of his helmet. "There is. The conflict… Forte and I are sure that I have it worse. It's…" he grimaced.

"What is it?" he asked, coming closer. Something bugged him; he wasn't sure how important it was, though. "Where's your scarf?"

Abruptly, Blues brought his buster arm up and fired towards Rock. He managed to stop in time, and it seemed like this one hadn't intended to hit. But his brother next pointed his buster right at him. "You're not cautious enough," Blues said, getting up. "You see it, but you do not accept that I am not fully myself right now." Then he started firing rapidly at Rock.

He jumped onto a platform and fired back, forcing his older brother to slow his own rate of fire to bring his shield up. "What do you mean?" he called out. "Forte said the same thing."

Blues nodded. "I await the rise of Master Omega… and I feel dread of it. But I am trapped by chains of coding. I have been told to battle you, and so I shall." He dashed to the side and pulled his shield away to begin rapid fire shooting again. "Don't get complacent, or you will die for it."

Remembering previous fights against Blues, Rock knew that his brother had always tried to drill that caution into him. But he was being so serious about it this time, even more than that first time when he only knew him as Break Man. What was so different about this time that even Forte was joining in on it? What did they see as so dangerous that they had to make sure that he would not die?

Then again, so much of this conflict was different. Rock continued the buster match, but found his mind racing. There was no outward threat this time; Dr. Wily had simply kidnapped him. There was no grandiose and insane scheme, just a simple statement of a test, like this was all some kind of twisted experiment. And there was no support. Rock was on his own.

There was also that name. Master Omega, who was not yet awake. Like X, who was deeply dreaming. Rock made to jump on one platform, but intentionally fell short to hit the edge and rebound over Blues' head to shoot at him from behind. When his brother collapsed, but not in being killed, Rock kept his buster arm out and paced around him. "Omega is Dr. Wily's next major project."

Briefly, there was a smile on Blues' face, but it vanished strangely fast. "The pinnacle of his work, his final masterpiece. But he's been hiding his hand, playing down his abilities. Master Omega is more dangerous than I imagined. Do not try to have mercy on me."

Rock tensed. "No, I can't do that. Not to my brother."

Now he looked disappointed. "You will regret that," Blues said in an almost sad tone before he was teleported away too.

Why did he feel like everything was being turned inside out and upside down? Maybe it was just coming into battle with his full mind open. Rock tried to collect himself with thoughts that he had to get home, to be with his father, sister, and dog again. But it was even harder when his brother had been the one asking to be destroyed.

In a room past the one Blues had been in, Rock found his scarf. He had to have taken it off intentionally and left it there. But why? He was never quite sure why Blues always had that scarf, but he had. At least, until just now. The yellow scarf was now wrapped around a helmet attachment. It was like some kind of parting gift.

No, Rock didn't want to think about it like that. He picked up the attachment and soon figured out that it would fit right into this helmet. The frame of it slid right up into the top of the face opening, then hooked into the edges. From it, a pale blue visor appeared, covering his eyes and part of his cheeks. Script soon appeared on the visor as a kind of computer screen, registering and downloading itself into his current armor. While he waited on that, Rock picked up the scarf, then decided to wrap it around his neck like Blues did. Whenever they got out of here, he could return it.

Then there was a test noise from a speaker in the helmet, right by his ears. It was followed by Blues' voice. "Hello, little brother. This is something I made for you. I was very careful to not get outside influence on it, as it may prove vital to your survival and escape. And, knowing that you would be mostly alone for this, I added a slight companion AI into it based of my personality. I can't be with you myself, but this fragment of what is left of me, I can send with you."

"Blues," he said softly. "What's really going on? What are you and Forte trying to do?"

"I'm afraid that Dr. Wily has added something to my programming that constrains me from answering those questions directly. Master Omega is an android, but not like you. He was built as an android, not built up from a robot master. And Wily has gone to great lengths to make him an extraordinary warrior. Omega is not just that either. Omega is to androids what robot masters are to mechaniloid robots. None touched by his power can resist. Dr. Wily has put me and Forte under the control of Omega, even if he is not awake yet."

"But androids are supposed to have free will and choice."

"Only Omega's will will matter," the AI said. Or was it a recording Blues had made?

Rock trembled. "That's horrible. You can't fight it?"

"It causes great pain and confusion when I try to. But, Master Omega is not awake yet. Forte and I have discovered that we can work around it so long as Omega remains asleep. However, there is no way we can do anything to stop Wily from activating the Master. No matter what we may feel, we are continually drawn to him and feel a kind of terrible awe when we are in the presence of him.

"Because of this, we decided that we had to help you. We heard Wily plan to kidnap you directly and bring you here. His ultimate goal is to have you encounter Omega in his first battle. As it was, you would have been overwhelmed and slaughtered right off. The two of us tried to find ways to help you survive that battle and escape this place. But, when we meet you in person, we must be cruel about it. We are not given a choice. We must want to see you defeated and destroyed, no matter what we may feel about it in the deepest parts of our programming. It is maddening at times, but we must resist now while Omega sleeps."

Hearing this, Rock felt a twist of emotions inside. He was humbled by hearing about what they were going through, afraid of what this all implied, and determined to do something about this Omega. "That sounds awful; I'm sorry."

"Remember, it's not really me that you are talking to. And, once Omega awakens, he will likely force us to help him trap and kill you. Do not try to show us mercy by sparing us. As it is, it would be a greater mercy to end our struggle."

That made him feel sick. He blinked as tears started to form. "It can't be like that," he said softly. "I know what it means to destroy now, and I don't want to do it."

"We can accept it if it means that you survive," the voice of Blues said. "Forte means to give you the main weapon that Omega is programmed to wield. He also has a powerful buster arm and the ability to adapt to new weapons and strategies, perhaps as proficiently as you. This is so that you can learn how this particular weapon is used and how you may defend against it."

Rock pulled the blade's handle out of his pocket. So Omega was primed to use a plasma blade. But how could he defend against something like this?

"And I have left this for you to find," the voice went on. "This will show you the reach of Omega's power. Do not let it touch you, or you will end up as we are. When you are in his presence, it should show the core of his power, and assist you to find a way to attack to possibly destroy that core. It also has some other capabilities that I will explain as they come up."

"But why are you asking me to destroy you?" Rock asked.

There was a pause. Then the voice spoke again, but it had a different quality. This part was actually Blues leaving a recording for him. "Rock, I wish there was some other way to do this. But I cannot find a way to repair the damage done to me, and even with the Master inactive, I get such horrible internal pain for this attempt to help you. I feel like I'm losing my mind, yet I know my mind is not nearly as developed as yours. I really hate myself for putting you through this, but I must ask you to kill me before I am nothing but a puppet for Master Omega. I don't think Dr. Wily even fully realizes what he has made, a god of destruction. I'm sorry that I'm not strong enough to resist; please forgive me and release me from this fate."

It was terrible to kill others. And it was terrible what this Omega could potentially do to Blues and Forte. Rock wrapped his arms around himself, letting himself cry for a bit. What was he supposed to do? What was actually right?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I might get flak again for tormenting Rock into an OoC state. But I do think that androids and reploids can't be that innocent anymore. It's a Garden of Eden thing. The knowledge of good and evil (as well as the option to do either) can easily corrupt a person, but it also makes them a more complex and (arguably) better person. True innocents are really flat characters who can't have the internal conflicts that make for an interesting character. Which is why I write far more for the X series.


	7. Define Control

Albert was taking a break from work on Omega, to get some food. Nothing special, just a microwaveable dinner that was cheap and fast. He personally didn't see why the bother about extravagant foods was worth it when modern technology could approximate it in a tenth of the time. In a way, he thought life would be better as an android, one that didn't require food and all the biological hassles. Or a cyborg; he couldn't really make himself into an android. He considered the idea many times. Maybe after he was securely in power with Omega to protect him while he was busy with the operations and development.

While eating, he read up on current news and skimmed for interesting science reports. His filter program brought up the Robotics Control Law first. Albert snorted. "Fine, if you fools want to shoot yourselves in the foot, go right for it. Be my guest. And once I take over, that law will be adapted for my own use." Having a law that made sure that no one could build advanced robots without his permission would be a godsend.

He switched to another news story, about some explorations of the space agency. Electricity hummed around him, accompanied by the occasional noises of the security robots and equipment. He took a drink of water and set the glass down. A moment later, the glass abruptly rattled. A few books, the only personal touch that was here, fell off their shelves. There was also a sense of disorientation, like something that was solid suddenly wasn't.

Albert grabbed the water glass so that it didn't spill or shatter. "Gah, earthquakes," he grumbled.

The computer flickered, then brought up an alert message. 'A missile has exploded aboveground. Assessing structural integrity.'

"A missile?" His body tensed. This could be disastrous at this stage. "One of mine?"

'No,' the computer responded.

"Was it aimed for me?"

'There is a high probability that it was not. The impact site was three miles west of here, in the city center.' The message screen turned its top bar green. 'Structural damage to the lab facility is minimal. Levels 2 and 1 have taken some damage from falling objects knocked over in the shockwaves. Sending repair units out now.'

Good. While thinking on those levels, Albert asked, "Has Rock finished his repairs in Level 7?"

'He has emerged and is headed for the elevator.'

He nodded. Finally. Rock had stayed on level 5 for a long time, apparently bothered by his fight against Blues. Albert had yet to question Blues about it. "Send Number 2468 to the level 4 battle room, Number 2648 to the level 3 battle room, and Number 3175 to the level 2 battle room."

'Sending units to assigned locations,' the computer replied.

* * *

 

Rock was concerned as he explored level 4. Someone seemed to be controlling where he was going. After thinking about it, that was the only explanation for why the keycards he was finding would only open up one level at a time and why they were always placed in a room behind the boss room. That someone was likely Dr. Wily. He started looking for ways he could get around this test sequence. But then, he had no control over the structure of this fortress.

When he entered the boss room of this level, he was surprised at how cold it was. And dark. There were two spotlights in the room, both centered on one robot master. The floor had a white frosty texture that seemed to be ice. The robot master was using hover skates to move around slowly, turning in wide circles to no apparent purpose. He had red armor, long blond hair, and a carnival like mask coated in glitter. Seeing that, Rock was puzzled. What was this robot doing here? "Two?"

He stopped and turned to face Rock. That's when Rock noticed something on his visor. There were strange red lines enveloping Two's body, shimmering some so he could see them against the robot master's natural red armor. "This one is also waiting for Master Omega," Blues' voice came over the helmet speakers.

So they would want him to destroy Two. But the door was already shut behind him. Trying to swallow his nervousness, Rock came out onto the iced over portion of the room. Two more spotlights appeared over him. Then Two bowed his head, plucked something out of an armor pocket, then activated his own green plasma blade. Holding it upside down for some reason, he dashed over and leapt up, spinning around and aiming to come down on Rock.

Two was going to be able to move a lot faster and freer on this ice rink, Rock realized. So he slid towards the center of the room, being his quickest way out of the attack's path and into moving. He fired at Two as he landed.

The skating robot panicked and tripped onto the ice. His plasma blade dropped, turned off automatically, and skidded several feet away. Gasping, Rock slid back some. He had never dealt with a robot master that showed fear in battle. Two got up and started to skate away, to the door. Then the red lines flared up, especially around his head and torso. Although he had shown great grace in the exhibition, Two tripped again, falling onto his knees and grasping his head.

"What's happening?' he asked softly.

"He seems to be afraid of you," the voice said. "But the Master only knows about war. Even while he sleeps, he is going to force Two into continuing the battle."

And so he did. Two struggled to get up again and went over to fetch his weapon. Omega's power relented some, but drove him to activate the blade and keep fighting. Only, as Rock kept out of his way and watched him, he realized that Two had no idea about what to do with the weapon. He never tried to swing it, just let it follow his natural moves. He probably only made this attempt because Omega caused him pain if he did not.

Rock felt horrible about it, but he charged up his buster, then fired at Two's waist. It punched right through his armor, causing him to collapse onto the ice once again. But that did not destroy him, and it did not stop Omega's attempts. Two kept hold of his blade and flipped himself over. The green blade trembled as he tried to figure out how to fight now.

Charging up again, Rock started to move towards him. "I'm sorry," he called out right before he shot Two in the head. That destroyed him.

The visor removed the red lines, but left a faint red glow around the body. It was soon teleported away, leaving only patches of glitter that had fallen off the mask. And a pair of boot upgrades that were not covered in a red glow.

"He's not going to suffer anymore," the voice said.

Rock grimaced. "I still feel horrible about it. He didn't even want to fight."

"He didn't have a choice. Those upgrades seem to be compatible with your systems, and they aren't affected by Omega's power."

That was something he had done through his whole career in fighting Wily's forces. He adapted their powers for his own, even taking upgrades meant for them. But now, he would be reminded of the unfortunate robot master when he used this upgrade. Or, maybe that would be good. He would use the victims' powers to make the Master suffer. With that in mind, he picked up the upgrades and attached them to his boots.

Information appeared across the visor. "This upgrade gives you hover skates for use over slick surfaces like ice; it could be used over other surfaces, but will drain more power. It can also be adapted to turn your slide ability into a dash which can be used at any time."

"That'll take a bit of time, huh? I'll do it over my next rest break." He activated the skate ability and used it to cross the icy floor.

* * *

 

Thomas walked through the basement with Isaac. Roll and Rush had decided to follow them down. "Are you going to see X?" Roll asked. "May we come too?"

He smiled to them. "Sure. I'll have to add Rush in, so long as he agrees not to mess with anything."

The dog pricked his ears up and barked. He was obedient, so there was no real danger of him causing harm. Before, he hadn't seen much of a point in letting Rush into X's chambers. But given the situation, it couldn't hurt.

He turned back to Isaac. "So what was it you wanted to ask?"

The young man bit his lip. "Thomas, it's about my doctorate papers. I'd like you to look over them. I finished them up last night, but…"

"You want to make sure they're suitable, then?" he asked. He didn't blame Isaac for being nervous. His school of choice was known for having a tough panel for science doctorate projects.

However, he shook his head. "Not exactly. It's… I've been getting more of those death threats about if I actually get my PhD. They're telling me to turn my life from this evil, as they call it. I was trying to ignore them, but they've been increasing. Especially after all those missile attacks yesterday. My school email address received two dozen of them in the time since and I had two letters about it."

Thomas felt a pang of sympathy for his young partner. "I see. And after they proved themselves even more extreme than we could believe." Yesterday, three separate cities in different countries had been struck by missiles. A claim had been made through an internet video that it had been done by the same group that was killing roboticists and advanced robots.

Isaac rubbed one of his wrists. "I don't want to quit working with you, that's not it. I still think that this is a great project and that it should continue. But I don't really need a doctorate to keep helping you, right? Since they've made it clear that they will kill me if I get it, I believe it would be best overall if I dropped out of the graduate program." He smiled bashfully. "But, I still would like to know how I did and if it's good enough, I might be able to hold onto my thesis work and present it later. You know, after all this madness dies down."

"That could take many years," he pointed out. "All that's been going on lately, I don't think it's all a coincidence. Something big is going on; I don't fully understand it."

"I don't either. But right now, we may have to go on the defensive. Preserve what knowledge is there so that when people come to their senses, they can pick the technology back up and keep working on it."

Thomas then patted Isaac's back. "You've got the right idea." He smiled, although he felt sad. "I'm glad that you're willing to sacrifice such a big part of your life for this work."

He smiled back. "I've accepted it. It's an honor to be working with you."

"Thank you, and it's good working with you too. Go on ahead and get things ready. I'll be in when I get Rush registered."

"Okay. See you in a bit." Isaac stepped onto the teleport pad and moved to X's chamber.

"How is Rush going to put in the password?" Roll asked.

"He won't be able to, so somebody will always have to be with him," Thomas said, setting up the new allowance data. "You're okay with that, right?"

Rush barked again, wagging his tail.

Roll patted the dog's head. "That was really nice of Isaac to do," she said. "He told me that he's spent many years in school and worked really hard to get to this point. It's too bad that people want to kill him. I bet they've never met him in person."

"There's a strong chance that you're right about that," Thomas said. "Okay, Rush, speak for the unit."

Happy, he gave several barks in a row. The light on the console turned green, showing that it would now allow Rush to use this teleporter. Thomas wondered if Rush didn't think that Rock might be past here. Hopefully he wouldn't be too badly disappointed.

He was about to set the teleporter to let them enter X's chamber when a series of ear-splitting explosions went off above them. Roll and Rush yelped, but it was lost among the immense sound of collapse around them. Wondering briefly if they were all going to be killed, Thomas went over to them, taking hold of his android daughter. Clouds of dust, dirt, ash, and smoke came from the stairs and windows.

As the initial noise wore off, the ceiling above them creaked and bowed. It had been made to carry an immense load, as much of the equipment upstairs was heavy. But the explosion must have weakened it. And yet… seeing that they might have some time to spare, Thomas went to a nearby drawer. Would it be there? He hoped so.

Yes, a data drive. The label was blank, so he had yet to use it. He put it into the teleporter, then had it download everything into the drive. That would take a few moments… he prayed that he had that time.

Roll came over to him. "Dad, wh-what's going on?"

"I don't know, but we've got to get out of here," he said. The drive reported that it had the programming copied, so he pulled out the drive and set up an emergency transport made to just outside the house. "Come on, both of you."

They came onto the pad with him, then Thomas activated the transport. In seconds, they were outside, looking at the smoking remains of their house. There was black smoke everywhere, with the lights of sudden fires appearing through the gloom. Roll gasped and clung to his side.

There was a series of increasingly loud cracks, then an immense clatter as the final floor collapsed, dropping all the rubble into the basement. A flame roared up as it found something flammable, causing a bright yellow light to come through. The air around them began to heat up, so Thomas pulled back with the two robots.

"Everyone else was upstairs," Roll said, her eyes tearing up and her hand trembling in his. "Auto and the security bots, and the army guys, and Carol! Are they out here? What do we do?"

It was terrible, but they couldn't afford to hesitate. He squeezed her hand. "Roll, call 911 to report this. I'm going to check on Isaac, then I might call them too."

She nodded, then closed her eyes and put her right hand to her ear to connect to them. Thomas would rather call them himself, but now that the house lab was ruined, something else was worrying him the most right now. Isaac was in X's chambers. They were located deep underground on this land, not immediately connected to the house. Still, something might happen. He brought out his cell phone and called Isaac's number.

After two rings, the young man answered. A high-pitched whine was in the background. "Is something wrong? I'm getting a weird error on the teleport pad."

"Tell it to disconnect to the other unit," he said. "Isaac…"

"What is it, Thomas?" he asked, concerned.

"Someone blew up the lab," he said. On saying it, he felt completely out of control of the situation. The good people who had died in there, all his life and work now turned into burning rubble or lost. It was horrifying.

Not, not all lost. Rush was there, whining and looking about nervously as if he might find the people responsible. Roll was there, trying to tell the 911 operator what was going on while she was scared and upset. And if Isaac was okay, then X was safe for now.

But there was much more lost than kept.

* * *

 

The dash boost that came with the hover skate upgrade took some getting used to. Rock tripped himself up on the first few tries before he learned to lean a bit forward, keep his feet parallel to the floor if he was running, and to be careful in judging dash boosted jumps. One time, he smashed his nose and chin bad enough that he had to go back to the repair pod to get it fixed. When he did get used to it, it was a thrill to move so quickly. Maybe he could convince his dad to let him keep the hover skates and dash. That is, if he got home.

No, he would get home and make sure that everyone was okay. He had to think positive, no ifs about it. He headed up to level 3 with the new keycard he had. What was he going to face up here?

What was there worried him, because it showed that Wily had left the boot upgrades behind on purpose. There were weapons in the walls that fired in quick succession, but could be bypassed with a dash. There were spike lined pits that were too far for his normal jump, but easily passed with his new dash jump. Was he providing all this gear for Rock just to prove how great Omega was? If he would need all this, no wonder Forte and Blues were insistent on preparing him just to survive his encounter with Wily's masterpiece.

Rock found his way to the boss room. The walls were lined with a row of spikes, and there were six large round columns in the room. Standing in the middle of the columns, there was a robot master who looked an awful lot like Two. He had the blond hair, the same body structure. But his armor was dull gray and his face was unmasked. That face was eerily blank, devoid of emotions. It was pale, with the barest suggestions of lips and cheeks. The visor showed that he was also affected by Omega.

However, this one seemed not to mind it. On seeing Rock, he brought out his plasma blade and whirled around, slashing the blade in an extravagant show. This robot master knew how to use his weapon. He then ran for Rock, ready to strike. Activating his own blade, Rock blocked him, then took advantage of the rebounding of the blades to thrust at the robot's hips.

And he was blocked this time, forcing him to dash out of a more forceful counter attack. The swordsman robot then leapt to one of the columns. Rock thought he might try to jump over to him, so he deactivated the blade and fired into the air to catch him mid jump. But Two's twin surprised him again, by hanging onto the side of the column with just the soles of his boots and a light touch of his hand. The swordsman then leapt higher onto another column, then off that one to a third closer to Rock. Only then did he jump off downwards, looking to slam his blade down on him.

Rock charged his buster, dashed out of the way, then fired at where the other robot master would land. He got him this time, but he had better armor than Two. It would probably take the plasma blade to defeat this one. And that meant risking close quarters combat.

When the swordsman took to column jumping again, Rock got an idea. A lot of the robot masters Wily programmed tended to fall into attack patterns. Perhaps it was the same with this one. Rock ran to near one column and let the swordsman robot jump down at him. Taking half a second to orient himself right, he dashed so that the swordsman landed with his back to Rock. The boy robot then reactivated his blade to jump up and slash across the swordsman's neck. He decapitated him easily.

But that didn't stop the robot master. Unable to see him now, he went into a furious flurry of attacks, swinging his blade around so fast that it caused a trail of afterimages for Rock's vision. Rock backed off and fired charged buster shots at the headless swordsman. Eventually, his blade's energy went dead. Rock then dashed in and used his blade to finish the robot master off.

"Are you doing okay?" Blues' voice came over his helmet speakers.

For a moment, Rock thought his brother might actually be there. But no, it was that AI from the visor. It was still good to hear it. "Yeah, I am," he said. The body was teleported away, leaving another pair of boot upgrades. "He was trying to kill me, but once I started fighting, I didn't have the time to be afraid." He realized what he said and winced. "I'm becoming more like Mega Man…"

"Don't worry about that now," the voice said. "If that's what it takes for you to survive, then it must be done."

The upgrades didn't have a glow on them, so he picked them up to put them on. "But Roll said she didn't like me as Mega Man. And, I'm a little scared of being that way. What if I hurt someone on accident?"

"You just have to adapt, as you always do. Do be careful of the innocents, though." The voice paused as the visor reviewed the upgrades. "This has adapted both your gloves and your boots so that you can perform a wall cling like that robot master did. It will not hold you in place perfectly, but it will allow you to ascend vertical surfaces by wall jumping."

And he needed it in order to retrieve the next keycard. Dr. Wily was definitely guiding his movements. But, maybe the wall cling ability would reveal a passage he couldn't access before.

* * *

 

Preparation and precaution were vital in Thomas' work, so he had the foresight, when building X's chambers, to stock up on supplies should a human get stuck in there a few days. Still, he needed to get Isaac out. As they were now without a home, he had to borrow a temporary teleport unit, set it up in a hotel's walk-in shower, and run it off the data drive so that no one else got the information on where X was.

Such an unorthodox connection made the transport process take longer than usual, but then Isaac walked out of the shower stall. He seemed grungy from being stuck in the same clothes for three days, but he was all right. "Everything's still okay down there," Isaac said. "X didn't even notice."

"He couldn't. It's good that you're okay." He tried to smile, but there was just too much else on his mind.

Isaac then hugged him. "I'm sorry there's not much else I can do to help," he said. "I don't have the resources to help you rebuild."

Thomas patted him, tearing up again. "No, that's fine. I'm grateful to have your support. And, it's good that only you were caught in there."

"How's Roll and Rush doing?" he asked quietly.

"It's rough on all of us. Come out, that may cheer them some."

They walked out of the bathroom. "Isaac!" Roll called, then came over and hugged him. "It's good to see you again."

He nodded and patted her head. "It's good to see all of you again. What are you guys doing?"

"Watching the news," Roll said, letting him go and heading back to the bed she'd been sitting on. The TV was on, showing some press conference. The girl robot took one of her ponytails and twisted it. "There's not much else to do. I want Rock to be back…"

Rush whimpered, dropping his head back onto the bed. "I do too," Thomas said, sitting on the other bed. He found himself unable to think of what to do now. He should have been planning on upgrading the rest of the household robot masters into androids. He should have been working on combating that Robotics Control Law, which shouldn't have passed already. He should know more of what was going on. But the world proved itself too complex for any one person to fully understand. Things were happening that he hadn't anticipated.

Isaac didn't say anything, but he came over and sat with them. He was part of the family, if an outsider that they had welcomed in. He was troubled too by the events.

For the moment, the only sound was the outside air conditioner running and the television. The president of the global government was talking about the recent events. "At this very moment, many federal agents are working to solve these terrible crimes and capture the perpetrators. It seems that we have grown complacent and we must be more vigilant to stop terror from being inflicted on the world. We will work towards keeping the peoples and the cities of the world safe. This may cause inconveniences and stricter laws in the future, but this is for the safety of all. We will make sure that events like this can never happen again."

"Can he really do that?" Roll asked, looking to him.

"I don't know," Thomas admitted. "We don't know the identities of these extremists. I hope something can be done, though."

There was a knock at the hotel room door. Isaac got up and answered it. Looking over, Thomas saw two men in black business suits. "Is there something you need?" Isaac asked.

"We're looking for Dr. Light," one of them said. "We're with the FBI."

He got up; he had worked with the FBI before, usually on Dr. Wily following Rock's efforts. The two men showed their badges, which were authentic. "Yes, what is it?"

"We're sorry to hear about what happened to your lab," one stated. "But we've been sent to double check some details about the explosion."

"Oh, right. Do you want to go somewhere else?"

"It's only a few questions, so here's fine," one said, bringing out an electronic tablet. "Could you double check the list of persons who were in the household at the time?" He brought up the list and handed it over.

"Sure," he said, taking the tablet. It had his robots, like Auto and Watcher, along with the humans like Carol and the bodyguards. He pointed out one name. "Rock wasn't there."

The agent took the tablet back. "All right. Where is he?"

"It should be in your case files somewhere," Thomas said. But he knew how many cases they dealt with, so he kept his temper even. "He was kidnapped around three weeks prior by an unidentified robot master. We haven't heard from him since."

"We should find the agent working on that," the other said.

The agent nodded. "Sure. Also, you have been recorded as working with the robot masters Blues and Forte previously. Do you know where they are?"

"No. I don't see much of them."

"All right." He checked some info. "And would this be your assistant Isaac?"

"Yes I am," Isaac said.

"According to the statements we have, you got trapped in a heavy security lab for dangerous materials. Is that so?"

"Yes," Isaac said. They had spoken about this over the phone. With how vocal and aggressive the anti-robotics faction was being, they had decided to take extreme caution in information about X. Even with the FBI. "We were planning on running an experiment and the only way to enter the lab is through a teleporter with the right security key programs."

"What kind of experiment was this?"

"Creating man made e-crystals with fewer costs and dangers. But they still tend to explode when mishandled or if they bear microscopic flaws."

The agent speaking nodded. That danger was well known. "Did you notice anything peculiar before the explosion happened?"

Isaac shook his head. "No. But I do find it strange that we had top level security robots and whoever got the bombs in did so without raising alarm with them."

"We're looking into that inconsistency," he replied. "Also, all of the guards with you checked in with Sergeant Brown first?"

Thomas nodded. "Right. He shared the information with me and the security robots. I was busy with research and work, so I left it to him most days."

"Okay. Thanks for confirming this. Also, we need to check over your robots for the Robotics Control Law assessment. We'd like to take Roll with us for that."

"I've had all data on my robots publicly available for years," Thomas said, glancing back at her. The girl robot had stiffened. "Her files are up to date as of a week ago."

"We've noticed, but we need to do at least part of the assessment at an office of our organization. You can come down to wait for her if you wish."

"What about Rush?" Roll asked.

The dog pricked his ears up, but didn't seem enthused.

"It's registered as an animal-level robot, so Rush isn't covered by the Control law," the agent explained.

This struck Thomas as rather insensitive, as they had all just lost their home a few days back. But refusing would get him on the wrong side of the law and he didn't want to do that. He knew some lawyers that were working on repealing the law through the courts, but that still needed time. "All right, so long as I can come with her. Isaac, you'd better stay here with Rush and get cleaned up."

He smiled briefly. "Right." He went over near where Roll was. "Be brave, little miss. You'll be fine with as polite as you are."

"Okay," she said, getting up but hugging him first. "Bye Isaac. Bye Rush. I'll be back." She went over and took Thomas' hand.


	8. Unexpected Reactions

Groaning, Albert put his hand over his face. "Can you drag this out any longer, Rock?" he complained to the screen. For some reason, the boy robot had decided that now would be a good time to thoroughly reexamine levels that he had previously cleared. Although he had upgrades to get about faster, he was going even slower in his explorations.

Just what was he thinking? Albert checked over the reports from the repair pod he'd left for Rock, but it reported no errors. He hoped that his own android wouldn't be this inefficient. This part of the test could have been over by now if he had just kept on track. Or if he'd been Mega Man, Albert was forced to admit.

He looked around and saw that Blues and Forte were whispering to each other again, right by Omega's pod. What was with those two? They hung around this lab so much. It had something to do with Omega, he knew. 3175 had wandered in a few times while waiting on Rock; Albert kept sending him back, and those two away. But they always returned. It was a good sign that he would be able to control the robot masters and probably other androids through Omega. But sometimes he'd rather they not hang around here so much.

"Forte," Albert snapped. "Where's Gospel?"

"Patrolling the halls around here," he said. "He waits for the Master too."

And it would be better if they were calling him the Master, not Omega. "Send him down to level 4 to get Rock to go to level 2. Just him; I'm going to activate some of the base security as well."

"As you wish," Forte said, going up to speak with his wolf.

Albert turned to the computer and went into the security programs. He had lots of hidden weaponry in the base. But he didn't need all of it. He set the usage at fifteen percent for levels 3 through 6. There, that ought to be enough to convince Rock to stop stalling and get a move on.

His news alert popped up with something. About Dr. Light again. That had been popping up a lot lately. Trusting in Gospel to deal with Rock's tardiness, Albert finally checked into that alert. It was a news story about how that group of radicals had blown up Thomas' lab, not that long after they threw missiles near Albert's base of operations. Why did all this chaos in the upper world have to be caused by a third party? He felt like they were trying to steal his glory.

But the most recent story wasn't about that. No, it was something else about Thomas. It absolutely made Albert's blood boil. He jumped out of his seat and started screaming obscenities at the screen.

When he'd stopped due to being out of breath, Blues piped up behind him, "Dr. Wily? What happened?"

"Don't go blowing your heart up before you can awaken the Master," Forte added, returning to the room.

"Those imbeciles," he growled, clenching his fists. "Rock has caused me enough pain and annoyance that I deserve to see him suffer and fail like this. But what they've done is completely uncalled for. I am going to go give those superstitious fools a piece of my mind. And **** the consequences if I reveal part of my hand too early. For that, they all deserve to die." He then stormed off to a recording area.

Blues and Forte decided to follow him, apparently out of curiosity.

* * *

 

There was no other way out, it seemed. Rock was trying and searching for a way to get out of Dr. Wily's premade path so that he could get home faster. But strangely, it ended up wasting even more time. He wanted to believe that there could be some other solution, some other exit. As he kept coming down the same dead ends and not finding any ways to get out, he was feeling the pressure to do something, to make some worthwhile progress.

Well, there was just level 3 to check out, and then he would have to head on to the next unknown level. Rock was skating through the icy boss room of level 4 again when something changed. There were clacks coming from somewhere within the walls. Worried, he looked over as he continuing moving. A panel had moved aside, revealing a weapon barrel.

Then a large blast of energy shot out, destroying a good deal of the ice. A second blast from another wall followed a second later. Weapons in the walls? When had those been triggered? Rock ran for the elevator, hoping that wasn't booby trapped as well.

When he left the boss room, he encountered a large animal robot. It was a familiar purple wolf, Forte's companion Gospel. And the wolf robot had signs of Omega's influence too. That caused Rock a brief moment of internal conflict. Forte would hate it if he killed Gospel. But they wanted to be released from Omega's influence, which meant killing them. Did that mean the wolf too?

Gospel growled, then lunged for Rock. Unfortunately, his jump triggered a motion sensitive beam cannon in the wall, which fired and blasted the wolf into the wall, nearly killing him. The beam cannon then hissed as it recharged.

"Thank you," Rock said, but then activated his plasma blade and finished off Gospel as he dashed by. "And I'm sorry," he added as he ran for the elevator. Guns in the walls fired, so he kept dashing to keep ahead of their auto-targeting capabilities.

Once he was in the elevator, he was going to check on level 3. But then the elevator blanked out all but level 2 and 7. 'Automated security weaponry activated on certain floors,' a small text screen scrolled across. 'These floors cannot be chosen at this time.'

Dr. Wily forcing him on the path of his choosing again, Rock thought. But he had a feeling that searching level 3 again would also turn out to be a waste of time. He pressed the button for level 2.

When he walked into the level, Rock was surprised. It was like he was walking right into a forest of pines. But it obviously wasn't outdoors. The floor was covered in fake plastic grass (not even the realistic looking fake grass), the walls were wallpapered with a generic forest scene, and the ceiling was painted like a sky but still held obvious florescent lighting. And all through the room, there were round columns made up to look like undecorated industrial Christmas trees. Rock couldn't even tell how large this room was, as so many of the fake metal trees were in the way.

"Oh, you're finally here," a voice called from within the trees. "I'm a very patient robot, but you've had me waiting for days."

It sounded somehow familiar, but he couldn't place it. "Who are you?" he called back.

"Experiment Number 3175." And then the robot master appeared, stepping out from behind one of the fake trees. It was that forest camouflage robot that had kidnapped him. The visor showed a number of red lines moving through his body. "We've met."

Rock felt himself tense up in fear. But no, he was ready this time. "What do you want with me? What's Dr. Wily doing?"

"Dr. Wily tells me to battle you." 3175 brought his hands up and released his two steel blades. "But, I feel that if I manage to kill you, Master Omega will respect me enough to give me a proper name." He then dashed away into the fake trees.

With that armor coloration, Rock nearly lost 3175 right away. But the visor still showed the streaks of red, so he followed those. Then a flurry of buster shots came after him, rapid fire like Blues had had. He dodged by moving around one of the fake trees, then fired in the general direction that the shots were coming from. But it didn't seem to do anything.

And he lost those signs of where his foe was. Rock moved carefully through the trees, searching for those visor signs. Hearing buster fire again, he did not see the mass of plasma shots coming for him until one hit. It wasn't a strong shot, but he could see similar bullets flying all around him. And then a bullet stream headed right for where he was. Rock dashed diagonally forward and fired towards the source. He missed again.

This was exactly how the fight continued for the next fifteen minutes. Rock tried dashing around, but whenever 3175 heard him, the commando let loose a wide spread of his plasma bullets, then a steady stream for where he had hit. Next, he tried jumping to the tops of the fake trees to look around, but it was hard to find good grip points and the bars that served as branches were round and slick.

In an attempt to do something different, the next time Rock heard the wide spread start, he activated his plasma blade and held it up in the direction of the sound while charging his buster. He caught one of the bullets and, like when two blades met, the blade and bullet rebounded off each other. And he heard 3175 get hit, so released his charged shot in that direction.

A clatter of metal hitting the ground was the reaction to that. Rock dashed that way, but saw the red glow that indicated an affected but defeated robot master. By the time he got to that position, the body was gone, leaving just a buster upgrade. It seemed promising.

"This upgrade allows your buster to enter a rapid fire mode," the voice of Blues stated. "Rapid fire bullets are slightly weaker than your normal shots, but it can still be used tactically as 3175 did. And you may wish to get healed before you explore this section."

"Right," Rock agreed. Recalling the flow of battle, he did his best to retrace his path until he located the elevator to return to level 7.

* * *

 

Roll was dead. Why? Thomas had read through the law and looked over the criteria of what they considered to be dangerous robot masters. Roll fulfilled none of it. With no combat abilities, she was a housekeeper and a companion robot. She was polite with everyone and made no serious threats. And she must have been nervous through the assessment, showing signs of fear. There should have been no way anyone could see her as dangerous.

And yet the Robotics Control agent had decided that she had to be destroyed. It made no sense. They must have been using paranoia and superstition for their guidelines, not reason and logic. Maybe they considered any human like robot dangerous. After all, they were completely ignoring Rush who was a fully combat capable robot on his own, even more of a threat (if one were the paranoid sort) when paired with Rock.

Rock. The Robotics Control people kept asking where he was. If they would kill Roll, they would certainly not hesitate to kill Rock. There were many times this day where Thomas had wanted to lose his temper at them, to demand to know what in the world they thought they were accomplishing in all this. They were legitimizing the beliefs of an extremist group willing to use missiles against inhabited cities, as well as eliminating the forces which were all that had been protecting them against a single extremist in Albert Wily. If he could get away with it, Thomas would like to make them see how much his robots were worth to him. Especially the ones he considered his children!

But he knew he couldn't get away with it. He knew they were watching him too. The extremists wanted to kill him outright, while the law seemed to be looking for an excuse to arrest him. In the past, he had always cooperated with the government, even letting them use one of his dear children in the battles against Wily. What was so different now that they had turned on him? He could only think of the Authoritarian party. And possibly the new global president. Was he in league with the Authoritarians? Thomas did not know the answer to that.

All he could think of now was protecting the two robots he had left. While Rush was 'just a dog' and thus far had been spared the lethal inquiries, that could still change. And X wasn't even ready to face the normal world. If he were to be activated in the current political and social environment, they would tear him apart.

His own grief, as deep as it was growing, would have to be set aside for now so that he could preserve what was left.

Isaac was chuckling for some reason. After a bit, he took off his headset and turned to him. "Thomas, you might want to see this. It's Dr. Wily and he's mad, but I'm really surprised about why."

"What about Albert?" Thomas asked, getting up to sit closer to him.

The young man turned his laptop around and pulled the headset out. "I found this on YouTube. Just watch it." He set the recording back to the beginning to play it.

Albert was wild looking as he always seemed to be in the past few years. He had dark rings around his eyes as well as other signs that he wasn't keeping himself well. And he did look like he was close to boiling over in anger. Almost like I feel, Thomas thought, but Albert was never that good at holding in his temper.

"Greetings, people of Earth," he started with. "But a very sour greetings this time. I am Dr. Wily, as you know. I am not here to announce a new raid on the world, or a Wily War as you call it. No, I was perfectly fine letting you ignorant fools dig your own grave and shoot yourselves into it before coming in to take advantage of the vacuum of power. But now, you've gone too far.

"You Authoritarian people are acting irrationally, I hope you know. You've been raving about how great mankind is with all the things that we've accomplished through science and technology. But then you want to deny the greatest achievements of technology: the development of artificial beings that are our equals in terms of mind and emotions, with bodies strong enough, capable enough, and repairable enough to take care of all the things that would kill us. Why do you feel so threatened by that which mankind has made? You may see robots as dangerous, but so are the missiles you built. So are the genetic engineering projects, the high speed vehicles, the accursed social networking sites, the power armors. All of that can be just as dangerous as robots, although in very different ways.

"So you institute a law to control human level intelligent robots. Fine, be that way. That just gives me more authority because I have such robots that can mow down your entire military forces without trying and I have no qualms about ignoring your foolish laws. You can kill all of your defenders if you want and I'll be glad of it.

"But now, your so-called government authorities have crossed the line from masochistic idiocy into sadistic cruelty. You've gone and ******* killed Roll! What the hell are you dumb morons thinking? I saw the assessment report and I'm not afraid to release it to the public just so that you can all know that those people are worse than me. I saw that you discovered that she was a full blown android, yet she is still just a little girl who keeps house and is impeccably nice and polite with everyone she meets. So why was she killed when she had no weapons or dangerous abilities whatsoever?

"Apparently just because she showed authentic fear as the FBI agents were questioning her! And this comes after her brother Rock was violently taken from their home, and after their home had been blown to smoking ruins due to the same idiots who've been throwing missiles around! Nine robots and six humans were all killed in that explosion and apparently she and Thomas only got away by complete luck. How the hell do you expect anyone of human level intelligence and emotions not to be afraid and upset after all that? Why would you ******* kill an innocent girl just for being afraid and not being human?

"Because you're a bunch of ************ ******* on a **** **** witch hunt and you're ******* trying to get all the rest of us ****** to another ******* dark age!" By now, Albert was red in the face and was looking more furious than Thomas had ever seen him. "As I said, I was going to let you **** ******* ruin yourselves, but by killing Roll, you have seriously ****** yourselves. I am going to track down every single one of you ******* even partially responsible for this and eliminate you from society. And I am not one to accept apologies." That was the end of the recording.

Isaac had his hand over his face, but he was smiling. "I certainly was not expecting that kind of support, or any, from Dr. Wily."

There was so much going wrong right now, but Thomas let himself be touched by this defensive rant from Albert. "I suppose, somewhere in his currently twisted ideas of morals and society, that he does still care. But we do need to tread very carefully for some time, especially about this."

"What for?" Isaac asked.

"The FBI will likely try to use it as something to connect us to his illegal activities. Like he said, they do seem to be on a witch hunt now and we're prime targets." Rush came over and put his head on Thomas' lap, trying to be accepted with them. Thomas rubbed the red dog's metal ears. "Yes, we are going to be on the defensive now, protecting what we can."

* * *

 

Searching level 2 took some time. It seemed to be one large open room, filled with those fake pine trees. Checking along the walls first, Rock looked for both the keycard to the elevator and a potential way out. But he found neither before he ended up at the elevator again. Recalling a stream that seemed to split the room in two, Rock started searching the area in between, using the stream as a guide.

While walking along the stream, he spotted a Met carrying the keycard. No wonder he couldn't find it, if it was attached to a mobile enemy. The Met saw him, spat out several shots, then ducked behind its helmet before he could fire back. Dashing to avoid the shots, Rock went over and used his plasma blade on the Met.

Oddly enough, the blade bounced off the Met's shell like it did off the other plasma weapons. But it also caused some reaction that made the Met's feet automatically jump, causing it to flip over. A second strike at the small robot's unprotected side destroyed it. Rock took the keycard.

And the nearby fake trees burst into flames. Rock tensed at the unexpected reaction, then saw giant blue sparks start to jump from tree to tree. With loud crackles, they formed electric walls cutting him off from most of the room. The room was starting to smell like smoke, burning pine needles, and heated metal.

Looking around, he only saw one path. He backed away from the nearest walls, then jumped when another one formed. Rock kept going and new walls kept forming behind him. Yes, Dr. Wily didn't want him wasting time, and thus was herding him back to the elevator. The walls kept pace with him, connecting slowly if he walked and connecting fast if he dashed. Before long, he was back in the elevator with the options of going to level 1 or level 7.

He wasn't that injured, since the Met had been the only enemy he had faced upon returning to level 2. So Rock decided to go to level 1. There had to be an exit from there. But there would certainly be another boss robot to contend with, as well as Dr. Wily's manipulations.

Something different about this level immediately caught his attention. The lights. They were sun lamps, helping to regulate the temperature of this place and replace natural sun light. In most of Wily's fortresses, he would not encounter areas with sun lamps. Those that had such lights indicated that a human was living or being kept there. That, or there were a lot of plants, biological or mechanical.

There were plants in pots along the wall. But there were also rooms obviously meant for human habitation. There was a bathroom with a shower, toilet, and sink. There was a laundry room with an actively running dryer, plus a housekeeper robot of minimal intelligence waiting for it to be done. Although they looked at each other, Rock left the housekeeper bot alone. It made no effort to pursue or fight him.

Next, he came across a sitting room and a bedroom. They were both sparsely decorated; one chair in the sitting room with a computer and a nearly empty bookshelf, and one bed in the bedroom with a table and a lamp. It was a space that felt cold and neglected, only used when absolutely needed. Nothing was in there, so Rock moved on.

The next room he entered turned out to be the boss room. It was large and square like the rest, but this one had a pit around the edge filled with spike traps. And there was also a lower ceiling, notable because the boss machine was monstrous, a robot with large treads for feet, a bulky tank-like body, a weird head shaped like Wily's with giant red eyes, and sledgehammers for arms that had hammer heads as tall as Rock was. He wondered if this was the machine that carved out these tunnels.

And the hammer tank wasn't the only one in there. Dr. Wily was there too, dressed in his usual white lab coat and smiling maliciously. As he chuckled, he gave his trademark eyebrow twitching motion. "Ah, Rock. After stalling for so long, you finally make it up to my quarters."

"Where's Omega?" he asked. He highly doubted that this tank was the Master, especially since it showed no signs of Omega's influence.

Wily seemed surprised, possibly annoyed. "You'll find him in due time, be certain of that. Or he will find you if you foolishly decide to take the coward's way and escape. But even if you do get out, it's too late to save your family."

Rock's whole body felt chilled with fear. "Too late?"

Snapping his fingers, Wily activated a large screen on the wall. It showed a ruined building covered in black smoke and yellow-orange flames. Around it, there was a familiar landscape of neat flowerbeds, tidy bushes, and large trees. There was also the sign welcoming people to the Light Laboratory. A stray ember had fallen onto the sign and it was beginning to go up in flames too.

"That is a recording," Dr. Wily said darkly. "Everyone inside died."

Everyone inside died? Rock felt like something had been ripped out from inside him on seeing his horrible nightmares come true. So his dad, and Roll, and Rush, and Carol, and Auto, and everyone… they were all gone, burned to death because he was not there to protect them. If he couldn't protect them, he couldn't protect anybody. What did he do now?

"About time they all got knocked off," Wily went on. "Now there is just you to deal with, and I have decided that you should meet…"

Rock looked back to Wily and the chilled hole inside him seemed to harden. It had to be his doing. Wily had snatched Rock away from his home, and now it was destroyed, along with everyone he loved. Nothing, nothing remained but him and Dr. Wily. Wily, whom he had defeated time and time again, but he was never truly stopped. His failure to end Wily's menace had led to this.

And this time, he wasn't going to let Dr. Wily go on one of his monologues again. "I hate you!" he screamed, dashing right at Wily and colliding full force into him. Rock grabbed onto his enemy's sides and kept going ahead. He only stopped when the spike pit started, then let Wily go. The mad doctor was thrown into the wall with a forceful thud, then dropped onto the spikes below. Once the spikes felt weight on them, the trap exploded, setting off the traps beside it, going all the way around the room. Blam, blam, blam, blam, blam…

Through the smoke and shrapnel debris, a head with its skin blasted off came rolling by Rock. It was leaking oil. Electrical wires sparked from a metal skeleton. What he had just destroyed had been another replica.

Just to make sure, Rock picked up the head, then looked at the remains of the rest of the body. All mechanical parts of metal and plastic. Not a human. But seeing this only evaporated his anger, letting him realize what he had done. He had willfully destroyed what he thought was a human.

He dropped the head, horrified at the sight now. He wasn't supposed to kill humans. As a lab assistant, he knew about the three laws of robotics. It should have been impossible for him to commit such a murder. But he hadn't even given it a thought. He just felt like Dr. Wily had to die right then and there.

He looked up to the screen, still showing the house rubble burning. Could that be a faked image? He knew that Dr. Wily was perfectly capable of such lies. He had left a replica here and had manipulated him the whole way through this maze. Now Rock felt like he really needed to escape. He had to find out what the truth was. Hoping that the others were actually alive, he dashed out of the room to explore the rest of this level.

Outside of the boss room, he came upon a familiar hall layout. Was this…? Yes, it looked exactly like level 7's layout! He checked in rooms and found various small labs, including one like that which 3175 had forced him into. Which meant that the teleporter room should be right at the end of this hallway. Rock went through the doorway, eager and hoping…

It was a storage closet for various tools and equipment. But no teleporter pad. Not even a temporary mobile one. He checked the room that was right across the corner from him, but it was another small lab. That left just a small hallway that had one door. That had to be a teleport room, or a staircase to ground level. Rock went inside.

He found a blank empty room, free of anything, even dust.

No, how could it be?

Rock screamed in frustration and punched the wall. Then he burst into tears and collapsed onto the floor. There was no way to escape.

* * *

 

Upon waking up, Albert went to his control room and found that Rock had passed through level 1 already. That surprised him. He skimmed through the security footage showing him exploring the red herring habitation area, then watched as the boy robot encountered his hammer tank controlled by a replica. That was a good tank, he felt, one he was proud of. But it had no AI, so it had to be driven with something that had a mind.

Only, Rock had gotten furious upon the revelation that his house was destroyed. He had destroyed the replica by throwing it onto the exploding spike traps.

Albert gaped at the screen for a moment. "****," he muttered. Thomas had gone all the way in making his androids not only capable of fearing death but capable of committing murder if pushed too much. All of a sudden, it seemed like a bad idea to taunt him with the scene of destruction.

Right now, Rock was at the empty room at the end of the level, weeping and shaking. Albert felt bad for him again, but shook that off. No, no, this could work out for the better. Rock was feeling trapped and desperate; he wouldn't hold back when threatened. While he would have to make sure he kept clear out of Rock's path, he could now send Omega after him and get a full test of his android's combat capabilities.

But a few things needed to be done still. He needed to get Rock asleep, preferably in that repair pod. Then once that was transported to the right location, he could activate Omega at last. His new right hand android was finished now, fully programmed and prepared for his role as the sword that would lead Albert to power. He just needed to pass this real world test first.

Albert checked his list of active robots and robot masters. However, his resources were always tight, so he recycled any robot that had passed its point of usefulness. By that rule, the only robot masters he had on hand were Forte and Blues; he wanted to save them for later use. He ended up taking some of his better robot fighters and sending them to attack Rock. They would not survive the encounter, but that didn't matter. All they had to do was damage the boy robot enough to make him decide to return to level 7 and that repair pod.

* * *

 

Thomas was at a local university's library, going through his computer database. Unfortunately, the main computer had been in his lab when it had blown up. There were some secondary units inside X's chamber that he kept back-ups on. He wanted to know how up-to-date it was. He thought it was most likely backed up to a week prior to the explosion. If that was so, then much of his information was intact.

An hour after he arrived, Isaac arrived with a suitcase. When he opened it, there were a number of data storage devices inside. "Okay, a lot of the science professors have been harassed too, but it seems like they will agree to the Alexandria project."

The older man nodded, glad that it was starting out okay. They had decided to name the preservation project Alexandria after an ancient library of the sciences. In that, they were going to record various science texts and professional papers to a secure computer storage facility. Though, they had yet to decide on where to put the computers so that the anti-technology factions could not reach them, but later generations could.

But the question on his mind now wasn't on the project. He looked over at his partner. "That's fine, but why are you wearing a foil hat, Isaac?"

The young man chuckled and tapped the hand-folded aluminum foil hat. "Oh, this? Well, it was kind of a friend's suggestion. I have gotten some slack with all the death threats lately, but they might change their minds. The point is to give off the impression that I'm harmlessly eccentric. This was just my first idea, becoming mildly paranoid about psychic aliens."

He laughed softly. "That might work out. Just make sure you stay consistent in being eccentric."

"Yeah, that could be the hard part. Also, I think we should check into the other sciences and see who is and isn't being threatened. I've learned that a few professors who don't work with robots, like the biology head here, are getting similar warnings from these extremists. We could figure out if any branch of science is acceptable to them, and if so, perhaps use that segment to cover over the efforts to preserve the rest."

"That's a good idea," Thomas said. "The more people we reach out to, the more risk we take. But then, I feel that we might use the connections people already have to reach out to sympathizers and other victims. Also, many technologies cover multiple sciences. That could be necessary." He quieted to think that over. Alexandria might end up taking more than he had previously thought.

* * *

 

On one hand, Albert wasn't sure if copying Rock's social programming and stripping it down for Omega's back-up was a good idea after all. He had to do a lot of work adjusting it, which was causing errors to crop up. He could patch up those problems as he went, but another error might cause him to redo all the patching. Besides, his android might never need this back-up persona; it was there just in case something did come up.

On the other hand, he really disliked writing up social programming, especially from scratch.

He finally came to a point where he decided against doing any more modifications to this and simply told the grafted personality data to check against the primary personality data. That way, he wouldn't get a traitor simply because Omega was in back-up mode. That was finished, so he checked up on Rock. He had gotten him back in the repair pod, so after making sure he was deeply asleep, Albert had some cargo robots move the pod from level 7 to level G. It had been some time, so Rock should have wakened up and begun exploring the new level.

Security recordings show that he had done that, but to a limited extent. Once he had figured out that he wasn't in the same place, he had returned to the repair room. Now he was trying to access the computers, trying to get some information. Albert had limited all access to and from the internet, though, so he wouldn't find much in there.

It would be about the right time to talk with him. Albert opened up communication between Omega's lab and the repair room of level G. "Well hello there, Rock," he said, watching as the android went tense. "You made it through the first area, but this second one will be harder."

Checking a screen that came from a computer camera, he saw Rock frown. "You lied," he said.

That was not like how this kind of conversation went. "What do you mean?" he asked, letting some anger into his words.

"You said you weren't playing games this time." He slammed his hands down onto the desk. "But you are! It's the same old thing as always, just that you've trapped me into this maze and have been controlling my every move. If you really are trying to take over the world, then you wouldn't use the same problematic formula every time. That is, unless you have something else you're actually doing. So what is it?"

Albert leaned back in his chair, but did smile a bit. "You really expect me to answer that?"

Rock looked off to the side, his cheeks turning slightly pink in embarrassment. Albert made a note to look into his copy of Rock's programming for that. While he didn't think it would be too useful, it was a curious thing for an android to mimic when it lacked the blood vessels necessary for blushing. "I don't know," he replied. Maybe he was even frustrated by how he was partly depending on Albert now.

"I don't mind telling you, actually, for it's too late for you to do anything about it." He nodded, even though he was only sending audio to Rock. "I'm going to change the world, Rock. We speak of enlightenment, but the human race is still not free from the darkness of ignorance. We are still being led by the ignorant, while the intelligent minds like myself and Thomas Light are kept out of the spotlight and at the mercy of investors. Most people are more interested in celebrities whose lives are based around living lies than they are of the scientists whose lives are based around seeking truth. I plan to change that by making myself the leader and forcing the ignorant masses to stop denying truth."

"Why do you have to force them? I mean, didn't that extremist group come out because of your actions? That's what they say… I don't know what to call them."

Rock was not too sure of himself and clearly unacquainted with debate. Albert frowned again. "They are a nameless and faceless mass. They do that to make people superstitious and suspicious about everyone around them. The ignorant people then go to whatever authority seems strongest for protection. In that way, they are likely a puppet group formed by the Authoritarians."

"Not you?" Rock asked.

He snorted. "Of course not! I am sick of ignorance and stupidity. I wouldn't use that in order to take power." Although he wouldn't be above using that ploy to put himself into power by eliminating the 'strongest authority'. "You still have traces of a childish mentality; that disappoints me. I would think that Thomas would give his favored robot a greater maturity and intelligence than you show. Perhaps you could see my test as a game. That would be like you. But the test has yet to begin."

"It hasn't?" He seemed puzzled, starting to be afraid again.

"You aren't the one that I'm testing," Albert informed him. "I brought you back into your peak performance in order to test my new android, Omega." He allowed himself to chuckle as Rock paled. "That's right, Rock. This one isn't designed to kill you. But he will do so as his initial test mission. Your time will soon be over." He then cut out the communications line.

But he watched for a while longer. Rock tried to talk with him again. On getting nothing, he briefly seemed overwhelmed. After being through so many conflicts as Mega Man, he shouldn't be showing these traces of his original child-like personality. Thomas did like being a parent, but he should have worked on making Rock more mature as he developed him into an android. Like he should have used that blasted BBTulips security system on Rock. The boy did have what could be an older version of the program. Albert could have gotten lucky in grabbing him before that upgrade was installed.

Or… Thomas also had something more that he was actually working on, making Rock and Roll just as much of a ruse as Albert's upper world raids were.

Gritting his teeth, Albert felt like punching out the monitor, but rubbed his forehead instead. "You always had to be a step ahead of me, didn't you?" he grumbled. Then he got up and headed over to where Omega lay. That android was ready now. "I'll just have to make sure that you really did lose everything."


	9. Test Run

Omega woke up.

He was aware of a number of concepts that didn't have any physical connections. He was in the laboratory pod in which he had been built. He had various weapon systems, any of which were ready to be used. There wasn't any reason to do so, not yet. Outside of himself, there were a number of systems he could access, with a great deal of information. Right now, he would work on his own systems.

Once he read his self as working properly, he opened his eyes and checked out the area he was in. The room was well lit and clean, made of metal and stone. There were a number of work machines about, pushed aside to be out of the way. And he wasn't alone, there were three others… no, that wasn't right. There was one other in the room. The other two in there were reading as being parts of himself elsewhere. On reviewing what few identities he knew, he figured out that the human with him was Albert Wily, his creator and master.

"Hello, Omega," Albert said. "Is everything working fine?"

"Yes," he replied, getting up to leave the pod. "What am I doing?"

Albert smiled at his question. "You work for me. There is much to do, but right now, you must prove yourself by destroying another android fighter, Rock. I can send you to the tunnel system where he is currently. No robot has managed to take him down fully, so don't underestimate him. I've got all the information on the area over on this computer for you to review."

He nodded, then looked over the computer. There were screens, a touchpad, a keyboard, and a data port that wasn't attached to anything. Going by what was in his mind, Omega placed his hand on the port and connected to the computer. The armor on his fingertips was able to read the data without plugging directly into the port.

"Don't go past my personal firewalls just yet," Albert warned.

Dropping his hand, he stated, "I didn't," then left the lab for the teleporter room. He paused in the door to look at the other two units he was working through. He recognized them as Blues and Forte. Although uncertain of why they had different names, Omega brushed off the question and mentally pulled on them to follow.

"I'll be watching your progress from here," Albert said, remaining in the lab.

Partway down the hall, Forte spoke up, "You don't have to follow him, you know."

He stopped and turned the face the two shorter units. "I am loyal and obedient," he stated. "That is who I am; why should I change? Why should I think that?" Why should he even speak to them? They were a part of him. They should just know, like he did.

Speaking more cautiously, Blues said, "We were drawn in from being different people. That is what you do: draw others into your control." They had quite a lot of knowledge and memories apart from him, but were compelled to follow. This came as a thought that was separate from Omega.

Why should it be separate, though? They were a part of him. He shouldn't be keeping secrets from himself. So he took hold of both of them. "I am not to draw in Rock, though." He connected to them.

That confirmed what Blues had thought. They had years of data and memories to them, while he had only minutes. In response to his connection, the two of them tensed and tried to be defensive. It was a feeble effort, though it irritated him. He was the Master unit and they knew it. After forcing their emotions away, he decided to just review what they knew of battle, and about Rock.

Rock… he was a brother, someone who needed guidance and some help, but was highly capable on his own (and someone to hold some jealousy about, even if that was ignored). He was a rival, someone to compete against and strive to be better than (because he was such a high bar to set in terms of ability). And he was someone to be admired.

A brother was someone to… to... help and… the concept was missing.

Omega identified the foreign thought as it tried to identify what it meant. It didn't belong to these two robots, though. Who is that? He tried to seek that mind out, but it was not out there.

The query was met with confusion. It was himself, and yet not. A desire to go home emerged, but the other couldn't even properly define that.

If it couldn't identify itself, then it was nothing, Omega concluded. He blocked that part of himself off, then continued on to the teleport room. "You both will go to meet with Rock first," he said. "I will start on level A and activate security so I can practice." That way, Rock would be worn down and he could more properly distance himself from these two. He would have to sort out controlling others later, but he would work on himself now.

Blues and Forte followed him, then were sent down to level F. Omega teleported himself to level A and connected to the network from there. In doing so, he realized that he could see through any camera and control the installed weaponry. He could use the physical practice. On the other hand, this overseeing eye could be quite useful.

* * *

 

Beyond the initial parts, this area was laid out differently than the other. Levels 1 through 7 had been designed as sprawling mazes with traps all over. This place, marked as level G, was slanted and curved like a circular ramp. There were no other rooms, just a wide and long hallway. And Rock still had to get over spike pits and past wall guns, but the traps were nowhere near as dense as level 7, or the rest.

After completing a full circle, he came to a short section of the hall that was flat and had one door. Inside that room, there was a repair pod and a computer console. It was identical to the one he had last woken up in. But he wasn't actually going in a circle, due to the constantly ascending hall. Rock went in for a minute and tried to figure out if this was a disguised elevator. The computer brought up nothing like that, and no panel in the room indicated it could be that. Leaving it for now, he noted the wall was painted to say 'level F'.

Rock moved on, hoping to see some secret passage or any other way out. There were plenty of hidden weapons; not all of them were being used. What were they all there for if not used? The ones that were active gave him enough trouble, like the energy cannons and the machine guns. If they were all activated, he wasn't sure if he could make it out of here.

He caught sight of the floor being adjusted ahead of him, right where the hall curved around past his vision. There was a spike pit, but the floor was covering it up. Noticing that, Rock slowed down. It helped, yes, but the fact that it helped made him suspicious. The floor might be jerked back open when he passed over it, after all.

And then flashes of red appeared all over the walls, ceiling, and floor. Rock stopped right before he crossed one of those lines. "That's Omega's power," he said quietly.

"It seems that the Master is now awake," Blues' voice said. The red lines changed, to a duller form. "He's taken over the computer network of this area, so using any of the machines he's connected to would be a risk to you."

But probably not walking on the floor over the wires and cables. Rock kept ascending the hall, even when he started hearing a pair of footsteps. That would be why the spike traps were getting covered. In spots along the wall, brighter spots of Omega's red power picked out cameras watching him. Was this to be his fight with Omega? Then why were two coming? Unless the Master wasn't even humanoid.

It wasn't that fight yet, he realized. Blues and Forte came around the corner, immediately firing at him. The former sent his rapid fire shots towards Rock to drive him to the side, while the latter used his stronger buster fire to get him while pinned that way. This time, the red markers were stronger and dense, moving out of them and up towards the ceiling. It made them look like dangerous marionettes.

To get out of the crossfire, Rock dash jumped over Blues' line of fire, then ran right for them and activated his plasma blade just long enough to take off Forte's buster. Blues tried to bash him with his shield, while the other tried to grab the scarf Rock was wearing. He managed to back dash out of the way, but he saw the look of pain on Forte's face. "I still don't want to hurt you two," he said.

Forte backed off. But that was just so Blues could start firing at Rock again, this time avoiding the suppression fire tactic. Rock jumped up to the wall and fired down from that position before deciding which way to go. Feeling that going up would be the way out, he dashed over to the ascending side of the hall.

When he turned back, he saw a flash of red along the lines leading to Forte. The visor's markers became so bright there that Rock briefly couldn't see his rival beyond a silhouette. It then jumped over to Blues, doing the same to him. Forte flicked his arms, calling the plasma claws back up. And in between them, the visor showed a strange black line, formed like a crack in the air.

"What is that?" he said softly, then reactivated his blade to block Forte.

"This unit is unable to access what that black line means," the voice of the AI said. "But it was formed by Omega's power. Take caution around it."

Rock tried to listen to the voice, but Forte was lashing out at him, ignoring the rebounding effect. In his attacks, he was working himself around Rock, to drive him back downward where Blues would have a clear shot at him again. But his face seemed so blank now, expressionless. He showed no hatred, anger, or jealousy. He was fighting as mechanically as the war robots, albeit one with advanced tactical routines.

Was that how he looked as Mega Man?

That question disturbed Rock, as much as Forte himself did now. It wasn't even Forte he was fighting, just his body as a puppet of Omega. So they were right. Still, was it right for him to destroy them? A slash of the claws to his shoulder informed him that this wasn't the time to think of it. So he fired at Forte's face, more to briefly blind and stun him, then used his plasma blade to slice through his chest.

Once he got away, Blues didn't even react emotionally to Forte's falling. Instead, he switched over to his regular shots and kept fighting Rock. He fired back with his rapid fire, forcing him to stop shooting to bring up his shield. But then a metal glove was thrown at him from the side, knocking Rock into the wall. Apparently, Forte wasn't quite destroyed yet. He was in a state where any other robot master would shut down and send a distress signal. Omega was forcing him to fight on in any way that he could.

Rock dashed around for a moment to avoid Blues' attacks, releasing a charged shot at Forte to finish him off. And Blues would be the same way. As much as he didn't want to do this, he would have to. Besides, there wouldn't be anything left of him. It would have been better to destroy them before… but how could he be thinking of that? They had been partly free then.

Blues was firing at him again, so Rock dashed out of the way. He didn't check where he was in time and ran right into the black crack in the air. Although it was as thin as a line drawn in pen, Rock found himself plunging right through it and into… somewhere else.

The red lines marking the cables and wires were bright again, moving and pulsing like blood vessels. Fields of faint red-pink flowed between the lines, moving and warping while the solid walls were invisible. And through those fields, he could see the hallways curling up and up, eventually leading up to something. It definitely didn't look human, a shimmering red and gold mass far above him.

Rock stared at it with dread. "Is that Omega?"

"His mind, at least," Blues' voice said.

Wondering, he looked at the hall around him. Blues was faint, like a ghost. He was looking around, but didn't seem to see him. Right by him, the black crack was glowing, perhaps leading back from… "Where am I?"

"That cannot be ascertained. You are still in Wily's lab, yet not there."

A crackling sound came from the fields around him. Eyes started appearing where the cameras were. Although he didn't even know where he was, Omega now knew where he was. A red spark leapt from the lines to Blues. His brother looked to where he was, then fired at him. He was so close that Rock didn't have much time to defend himself. It turned out that he didn't need to, as the shot passed right through him without effect.

"It's as we thought," Blues' voice came through the helmet. "Only the Master's will matters."

"Well he can't hit me here," Rock said, then dashed up the hall. Maybe there would be another crack.

However, Blues then passed through that crack and started firing at him again. A few stray shots hit the fields, making them shudder. So there was no getting out of this. Rock turned back and sent rapid fire shots at his brother. Once his shield went up, Rock then dashed at him to cut off his buster arm. Blues moved to block, making the top part of his old shield get sliced off instead. With that gone, he decided on attacking again, and would have if Rock hadn't cut off his buster with the second swing of his plasma blade. And he kept attacking, trying to finish him off quickly.

Pink flares blasted from the energy fields, until another black crack appeared right over them. Rock and Blues were returned to the regular hallway in time for the latter to collapse onto the ground in several pieces. Horrified at the sight, Rock backed up. Both bodies were glowing red, signs that they were still dangerous for him to touch. And both were destroyed, because of him.

Rock clenched his fists, shaking. "I didn't want to destroy anyone ever again," he said. "But I just killed them. I, I shouldn't have…"

"There wasn't much else you could have done," Blues' voice said. "It had to be done."

"And you're not helping any!" he shouted, then dashed away from the scene, his brother's scarf streaming behind him. He had to get out of here. No matter what he thought of the rest of the world, this place was truly mad. Rock wanted to be home and safe.

But after this, did he deserve to go home? And he would have to explain what happened…

He came across another repair lab at the transition hall between level F and level E. However, the entire place was filled with Omega's red, even the pod. Now he couldn't even take a break.

An array of panicked thoughts and feelings filled him, soon to be deafened by one: an anger and hatred of Omega for being the whole reason behind this sadistic place. Rock realized that he wasn't getting out of here unless he could defeat Omega. And even if he could escape before doing that, Omega would surely follow him out and destroy everything else exactly as he had done to Blues and Forte. Wily's robot masters were capable of destroying a city in a group, and Omega was an android more powerful than any of them. Omega could send his mind into electrical systems, as the visor proved, and the outer electrical grid covered the whole globe. Nowhere would be safe.

Rock bit his lip, then glared at the glowing red repair pod. He would defeat Omega, even if it destroyed him to do it. With that resolved, he made some repairs with his e-tank, then pressed on upwards. Nothing else mattered anymore. Omega could destroy it all.

* * *

 

Albert was working frantically, reading over security data and trying to find out what had just happened. It was something that might have been impossible except that he had seen it through the security cameras. While he had a heavy teleport shield keeping anyone from coming or going without his permission, Rock had vanished in the middle of a fight with Blues. And moments later, Blues had followed him into thin air. When they returned, the older robot was dead and the android was moving on.

Something had evidentially happened. He put through a connection to the network Omega was using to observe the lower levels. "What happened when the two of them disappeared?"

"They moved out of normal space," was the android's prompt reply. "I saw them on the other side."

"The other side of what?" Albert asked back.

"The other side of space." Omega then sent some data to him.

But the computer screen quickly complained that it could not display the format of the file. It did offer to send it to his programming console. Uncertain of why that would be, Albert accepted that and moved over there. A small housekeeping robot approached him, offering a glass of water. He waved it off. "Put it on the tray, I'm busy." Then he brought up the file.

It formed a diagram of the layout of level F, in black, white, and gray. But there was also an identical diagram beside it done in red, yellow, and blue. In that view, Albert saw a recording of how the battle between the three had gone. At the moment Rock vanished, he came across a strange kind of crack marked in pink. He moved from the black and white model to the red, yellow, and blue model when he did so. Blues had fired at him, but was unable to touch him from across the two models.

The connection between the two models was that crack, and a second one that appeared when the battle was over. Albert requested information on that crack. Amongst the data returned was the fact that the crack had a width that was barely that of an atom. It didn't seem right, so he had the computer recheck that data. It came up exactly the same.

What was going on? Albert went back to the main computer and texted Omega again. "They fell through a crack that was no bigger than an atom?"

"Right, there is a space in between those atoms that is past that of normal space," Omega replied.

He was about to reply that that was impossible… but it had happened. And, the file could only be read on his programming computer, where he worked in seven dimensions. Had the two of them really moved past the normal dimensions of length, width, depth, and time into the atomic dimensions that their programming extended into? Making actual things go beyond normal space hadn't been part of his plan. Unless there was something else to teleporting, which could be connected to this odd new power Omega had to see into those extra three dimensions. And what could be possible if other things could be done with the space between atoms?

That opened up so many possibilities.

Omega soon sent another message, "May I look further into this?"

It didn't take long for Albert to reply, "Yes, you may, and send me whatever information you get. This is highly intriguing." He then went back to study the data on the battle with Rock and Blues. He doubted anyone else had been looking into this. Finally, he could be the one that was a step ahead of everyone else.

* * *

 

Rock was proving hard to kill. From his position on level A, Omega did what he could. He activated energy beams on level E as Rock moved through it. The blue hero raced through the corridor, jumping ones that were high and sliding under ones that were low. When he reached level D, Omega opened up the spike pits again and exchanged the energy beams for the usual cannons and machine guns. In the mean time, he sent a number of fighting robots to level C. Rock managed to get through it all, even restoring himself with energy pellets from the robots.

At level B, Omega decided to intervene himself. He figured out more about the other side and felt that he could fight there. He sat down near the center of level A and focused his mind to send it to the other side. On level B, he would have to open up an entrance for Rock.

Down there, Rock found level B to be starting out quiet. No weapons firing at him, no more generic fighters. He knew Omega hadn't given up, as his influence still showed all around him. Just get through this level, he told himself, and he would face off with Omega himself. That's how things usually worked.

He knew things were different yet again when he ran into a large black portal in the middle of level B. A red flicker ran through the portal. Omega was inviting him to that other place. Nodding, Rock passed through the portal.

Up in Omega's lab, Albert saw when Rock disappeared again. Omega seemed to have some plan for it. So the scientist kept looking over the data, sending out searches for any possible papers on such subjects as the space between atoms, or accessing the fifth, sixth, and seventh dimensions. There was some resource called the Library of Alexandria which seemed to be amassing a large amount of scientific papers. He made a profile for that and put out his searches there.

His head whirled briefly as he shifted from one subject to another, but Albert's mind was working too furiously to pay it much heed.

After passing through the portal, Rock was faced with the form Omega's mind took. It wasn't a humanoid. No, it was a massive web of those red lines, loaded with dozens of eyes with gold irises. He focused all those eyes on Rock. "I have been told to destroy you," Omega said.

Rock fired his buster at a cluster of eyes. "I know, but I will destroy you for what you've done to my brother and friend!"

That did not make much sense to Omega, as Rock had been the one to destroy the other two. Still, he wasn't here to judge the irrationality of his foe. Using his programming as a reference, he modified his energy on this side to form an energy blade and a cluster that acted like a buster gun. Omega fired back, keeping his core self moving along the web. He also sent the blade spinning around after Rock.

The boy robot dashed around the manifestation he was fighting, in order to keep away from the buster fire. While he'd never fought anything like this before, he started with trying to take out the eyeballs. He could take them out, but they seemed to be regenerating. If he could pick out one (or more) that were different, that might be a hint. But they all seemed the same size, with a gold iris.

There was a pulse of energy moving along the webs. Rock jumped over the blade, charging his buster as high as it would go. All the while, he followed the pulse as it moved along. When it paused at the end of one part of the webbing, Rock fired right at it.

At that moment, Omega had been analyzing Rock's movements too, trying to anticipate his strategies and form his own to counter. But the boy finding his core so quickly was unexpected. Omega screamed at the pain of having his mind directly attacked. As if that wasn't enough, Rock mercilessly switched to rapid fire and shot at the core repeatedly, to make sure it got damaged. His web of information was breaking up. Afraid of losing control, Omega lashed out with his blade one last time, shattering the visor the boy wore. Then he pulled back to his body.

It was too late, though. His programming seemed to have been rearranged all wrong, or parts of it blasted into different sections. And the pain was all consuming, blocking out any other thoughts he had. The pain had to end before he could do anything else.

He could be repaired. Master Wily could repair him. And there was a bit that he could find, about swapping to a back-up personality if he found himself like this. Maybe that was the nothing…

Pain like being ripped apart at the programming level.

Omega shut himself down, setting up his back-up to run.

Back down at level B, Rock escaped through the portal. He had defeated that manifestation of Omega. But, that couldn't have been him, right? Omega was an android, not a monstrous web with eyes. Unless everyone was using a different definition of android.

Rock raced ahead, headed for level A. He still expected a battle with Omega.

Up in the lab where Omega had been built, the housekeeping robot had waited quietly in the background after giving Albert the glass of water. It wasn't even humanoid, didn't have a voice. It was a gray box with wide treads and a ball to turn upon. It had a tower that held its sensory inputs and an array of six arms to take care of tasks. And as a simple servant, it did not even have the capacity to develop personality quirks. So it waited quietly for orders or a routine change. The change that came was when Albert paused in his work, then collapsed out of his chair.

Squeaking, the housekeeping bot rolled up to him. On initial analysis, it seemed that he had fallen unconscious due to dehydration. It had instructions for if such things happened. There were nurse robots that could take care of the master. So the housekeeper sent out a radio signal requesting a cargo robot to come to the lab.

It arrived, a truck-like robot with yellow and black caution bars on the side. The housekeeper instructed the cargo bot to pick up the master carefully and transport him to the medical area. Once the human was on the truck bed, the housekeeper rolled up there too to tag along and follow the master's orders when he woke up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Omega vs. Rock battle scene worked best shifting between three POVs, I feel, even if it's a break from usual style. I also feel that the odds would be greatly evened out if Omega had fought in person; using an unplanned and unknown ability against an experienced foe put the odds against him. Now we get to meet his back-up personality.


	10. The Importance of Clear Communication

Now that his visor was broken, Rock could no longer see the influence of Omega, or the black cracks. He pulled the form out of his helmet so that the broken edges wouldn't cut into his face. If he managed to get out and back home, his father might want to see it. That was being quite optimistic, but it felt encouraging. Rock put it into a side pocket, then dashed along the rest of level B. It was quiet and still again.

But the voice in his helmet was there. "He should be weakened, but we can't be certain," Blues' voice said. "He's supposed to be far beyond any other robot Dr. Wily has made."

"You were programmed when Blues was under his sleeping influence," Rock replied. "So of course you think he's unbeatable."

"They did want you to survive. But now you can't see where his influence extends."

"I have a feeling that it wouldn't matter anymore if I got influenced too," Rock retorted. "Look, keep quiet. You're not like Blues as I knew him and I'm almost at my wit's end. Or even my end… no, I'll get home. I have to get home."

The voice did go silent after that. In the silence, Rock regretted telling it to be quiet briefly. But it would keep reminding him, without saying it, that Blues was dead and he was the reason why. No, Omega was the reason why. Omega had to suffer for that.

He found level A. His new enemy ought to be up here. If it just led to another seven level section of underground maze, Rock might consider going crazy.

* * *

 

He woke up. He wasn't sure of who he even was. He just was.

If it cannot identify itself, then it was nothing. That's what Omega thought of him as, nothing. But here he was, something and someone. And Omega seemed to be gone.

Where to? He felt bewildered. Where was he? He looked around, seeing a curved hallway; he was sitting against the outer wall. Level A, his mind identified, bringing up a map. What was he here for? The answer for that was elusive.

No, it was there. Find Master Wily. The one who had built him. It was for something, but he couldn't figure out what. He searched his mind, but it seemed to be in a horrible mess. There were all sorts of information available, much of which didn't seem to pertain to him. However, finding Master Wily should be simple enough. He stood up, checking out the area in case of danger.

A sharp pain shot through his mind as he did so, causing him to grimace. Quick movement might not be good like this. He walked up the sloped hall, keeping on alert. As he did, he spotted areas where weapons or traps were located. But none of them were active. There was a reason, and he should know it, but it eluded him.

He heard something that was out of place, the sound of dash jets coming up from behind him fast. Was that an enemy or a peer? But he was at his home base. Home…

Home is a safe place, a place to return to and be accepted at. It evoked a warm feeling in him, but the idea seemed to be disconnected from something. Like he should have memories that were not attached. Caught unexpected at that idea, he stopped. This place was so quiet, hard, and cold, hiding so many weapons. And he was alone. It was hard to be alone when one was at home. Was this really home? Where was home? And why did he feel such a strong impulse to return?

As he was in thought, the one he had heard was able to approach. It was a humanoid robot that was shorter than him, in navy blue armor and a bright yellow scarf. "Omega," the boy said bitterly, bringing his buster arm up.

"Omega is gone," he replied. Noticing the boy was ready to fight, he reviewed what weapons he had. However, even those systems were a mess. He could access parts of it; enough to fight? Or was he supposed to fight?

He still seemed tense, but the boy held his fire. "Gone? Where is he?"

"I don't know." Another spark of pain erupted in his mind, so he put his hand to it. "I seem to be missing a lot of information."

"Are you under his influence?"

On considering it, he shook his head. "I don't think so. Unless he's why my head hurts like this."

"Could be." The boy lowered his weapon, but didn't reform his hand. "You look like another robot I've seen. Two of them, actually. Are you looking for Two and… the other one who looks like you?"

Something seemed familiar about that. Or not. Was it just a number? "Maybe. I'm having some trouble… I would rather return home." Unless he really was home. This was Master Wily's base, and he was made by Master Wily…

The other seemed saddened. "I'd rather go home too. Maybe that really was Omega's true form I defeated. But I don't know."

"There's no signs of him about," he said. He felt that he would know if Omega was active, although he wasn't sure now how that worked.

The boy robot sighed. "Oh good. Well, I'm Rock. Do you know the way out? I'm not sure where we even are."

"Albert Wily's personal labs. And yes, I know the way out. One of the few things I can recall right now."

"Really?" Rock clasped his arm. "Could you tell me, then? Please. I really have to get home. My family might be in danger."

Family… that was important too, somehow. He nodded. "If that's the case, you should get back home. I'm headed that way too." He led Rock further up level A.

The boy robot followed. "So what's your name?"

He bit his lip. "I, I don't know. Omega said that I was nothing. I wasn't important enough for him to be concerned about."

"That's harsh," he said in sympathy. "But, you do resemble Two and his twin a lot, except you have a much better face than either of them. Were you made by the same person?"

"I think so," he replied. That might be why the name sounded familiar. Or it could just be a number.

"Well, there was Two, and there was a 3175, so maybe he was like Three. Then the other guy might be One. That'd make you either Four or Zero, if there wasn't anyone else to consider."

"I'm not sure of that."

Rock frowned. "And four is supposed to be a number of death too. Omega was only activated today… or maybe it was yesterday, I'm a little confused myself from being underground so long. Anyhow, maybe when he said you were nothing, he meant that your name Zero could mean nothing. But zero can also be a placeholder for anything, making a one into a ten, or even a million. So then, are you Zero?"

That made sense. He didn't have a name registered, but that worked out for him. Zero nodded. "That sounds right. I must be Zero."

In response, Rock smiled. "Well good to meet you Zero." He paused, then sighed. "Good to meet anyone who isn't crazy around here."

"It must be a rough place if I can't even remember it properly," Zero replied.

But why was that? What had happened to him? He was almost certain that he had barely existed before waking up. He had been nothing before, as Omega said. Now he was something, but what?

* * *

 

Had he really defeated Omega? That fight had been like no other. Rock had thought that it couldn't be over. Maybe it was.

Or not. He only had word from Zero that Omega was gone. Why should he believe him? Rock looked up at the blond android walking by him. He looked like a better version of Two, and Two had been controlled by Omega, presumably kidnapped by Dr. Wily too. Zero could be under Omega's control. But then, why was he not attacking Rock like Blues and Forte had?

And he seemed to have some personality and emotion, even if the primary one that Rock could see was confusion. There was also some pain occasionally when he winced to no noticeable trigger. Zero was walking deliberately slow too. That made Rock feel guilty about suspecting him. But he also was clearly armored far better than Two, maybe even better than the one he thought of as One. From the looks of things, he was likely armed too. To Rock's experienced eye, he at least had a disguised buster and a possible hip and arm pocket for a hidden plasma blade. And Omega was meant to use a blade as his primary weapon, hence the need for two locations to store the handle.

There was also the color of his armor, which matched what his visor had used to mark Omega's influence. When he had first saw Zero, he had fully thought him to be Omega. He was more like what Rock expected Dr. Wily to make his master android like, visually powerful. But then he hadn't gone into attack or making threats. Zero had even offered to help. Unless it was a trap and Rock was being too gullible. Was the weakness an act, or real, or what?

Rock just wasn't sure anymore. He wanted to be able to act, like Mega Man did, without getting lost in all these conflicting thoughts. But when he acted like that, he often did things he might regret. Like destroying Two and the others… who might be Zero's siblings.

Wincing, he tried talking with Zero again. "Is something wrong with you?"

"I think so," Zero replied. "I seem to be more disorganized than I should be. I feel like I should be careful or something bad might happen."

"Does it hurt?"

"My head sometimes. Why?"

"I work as a lab assistant sometimes, with robots that aren't working right. If it's not actual physical pain, it's likely not a mechanical problem. When you say something bad might happen, do you think your programming might crash? Like if you had to do too much at once?"

"That could be," he replied. Of course, if it was some programming instability, he might be putting most of his efforts to remaining conscious long enough to get to help. But then, should he be able to walk and talk with Rock? This wasn't solving anything. And then Zero surprised him by asking, "Why do you have to get back to your family?"

"Because they might be in trouble," he replied, getting worried about them all over again. "My dad, the man who made me, he's getting old, so he could get sick easily. But there's people out there who are hunting down robots like us and those who make us, and killing them. There's my sister Roll, and all my other siblings; they're not as developed as me and Roll, but I still love them and hope that they're okay. And my pet dog, Rush. He's a robot too and my best friend. It's been so long, it seems like, since I've seen them, and anything could have happened. I have to go make sure that they're okay, and let them know that I'm fine." At least that he was still alive.

"Because you love them," Zero said, quietly. "I'm looking for my creator; that must be why I came here. But it's muddled in my head. I know family and friends are important. I just can't say why."

"Well it's because you love and care about them, and they love and care about you back," Rock explained. "It's good to think of everybody and be nice to people, because that's the right way to be. But the ones dear to your heart, you have to protect them as best you can. It counts even more for me, since I can fight, and most of them can't. I'm supposed to be taking care of them and making sure no one hurts them. But I was taken away and I don't know what's happened. If they're gone, well, then I've failed and that means that I…" that he was worthless?

And that reminded him of something Dr. Wily had said last time, that he would have expected Thomas' favored robot to have greater maturity and intelligence. Rock was a bit childish; that's how he had always been. But X looked more mature, and he would be highly intelligent. Did that mean that Thomas preferred X over Rock? But no, he loved them all equally; that's what he said. And yet, he had been working on his new android for a very long time. Maybe only doing work that was necessary on Rock in the meantime.

As he started crying, Zero put his hand on Rock's shoulder. "Stay confident. If your purpose is to protect them and you focus on that, then you will. And you defeated Omega, which the others didn't think was possible. Once you get back to them, it should be okay."

Rock smiled. "Thanks, Zero. Hey, you can come back with me. Dad is one of the best roboticists in the world, so he should be able to fix you. Unless you want me to help you look for your dad." As much as he didn't want to stay in this place, Zero seemed to be a good robot, so he had to at least offer.

As they came to the end of the level A, he shook his head. "No, you have to get home. But maybe when I make sure my father is safe." He smiled a little. "And thank you, Rock. You've helped me too."

"I did?"

"You explained some things that I couldn't understand." He looked at the two rooms at the end part of this hall.

One was a repair room, like all the rest. But it was probably still infected too. Across from it, there was a teleporter room. Feeling relieved, Rock tried to rub his tears away and went in there with Zero. There were maps of the full complex in here, as well as the world. He ignored them and went up to the control console to enter the coordinates for home.

Right off, the console flashed an orange warning. 'You do not have the authority to request a transport out of this facility.'

Another dead end? Another frustrating disappointment? Dr. Wily truly was playing cruel games with him. But before he could react (and he had an impulse to shoot the stubborn teleporter), Zero touched the console and requested the exact same coordinates. The orange warning window vanished, to be replaced with one accepting the request. However, 'This request will require a double teleport, once to arrive outside the facility entrance, and twice to arrive at end location.'

"Thanks, and that double transport is fine," Rock said, moving into the teleporter. "I'll be sure to tell the others that you're a good android. You are one, right?"

"I believe so," Zero said, accepting the process. "I may see you later, then."

"I hope so," Rock said. And then the room went fuzzy. Finally, he was able to go home.

It reformed briefly into the spot outside the entrance. Rock thought to check with the satellite network and find out where he was. It would help later, as the police would want to know. But then, wouldn't he have to return to help them? But he should get the coordinates.

And then the area appeared. It was a mess, with rubble and wrecked buildings all around him. There seemed to be no one there. While there were some patches of grass about, the trees were blackened and bent. Although it seemed to have been a city, there were no lights beyond a nearly full moon. Something had happened here, something terrible. The satellites above told him that he was in a city of Ontario. Or what had been Ontario.

Was the world really going crazy? Rock shivered as the teleporter started to move him again. But he would be home soon, and it would be okay. He had to be confident, like Zero had said. This was all over. At least, for now. He might have to go back in after his new friend.

Arriving at home, he first saw green trees and the lights of the Monsteropolis skyline. It was raining lightly, with the sky rumbling. So this place wasn't utterly destroyed like Ontario. Rock turned around and saw his home. Or what had been his home. It too was a pile of rubble, sunk into the ground. It wasn't smoking like his nightmares, but much of it was darkened by fire. He wasn't just late, he was much too late.

And that meant that he was a failure.

* * *

 

Zero went to level Alpha. According to the information he had, Dr. Wily would be here. It was familiar in the sense that no where else could be familiar. Omega had been here and they had been built here. Did that make this his home? He should protect it, then.

As he looked around the various labs, he wondered what Rock would be doing, back at his home. It had been good that he had run into him, as Zero now knew those points that were bugging him. There were still other things he couldn't explain, but he knew what he could do. As he was a fighter, he should protect his home, family, and friends. This seemed to be his home, and Rock was his first friend. As for family, that was his creator Dr. Wily. And Omega? But Omega didn't seem to care for him. Zero was nothing to him.

He finally found Dr. Wily, but not in one of the labs. He was in the health care facility (as his internal map suggested), attached to a monitoring machine and a couple of IVs. While there was a set of robots in here, it was just a housekeeper and a nurse. Neither one would be able to talk.

Still, Zero asked, "What happened to him?"

The housekeeper bot turned its sensory tower to him, squeaked, then looked up to a monitor. It changed, stating that Albert was being treated for dehydration and stress from overwork. The nurse bot wouldn't release him for at least another day.

Had he failed to protect his creator? Or was this something that he couldn't really help? Zero couldn't think of any procedure for taking care of a human. Just thinking about it made his circuits hurt. Maybe he would crash if he pressed that line of thought too long, as Rock suggested. He really should see about getting repaired. But Dr. Wily couldn't do that. At least, not right now.

"I have to go into a repair pod myself," he told the housekeeper bot. "But if any danger comes up, inform me. I will protect him."

The housekeeper gave an affirmative motion, then turned back to watching Albert. Zero left for the nearest lab with a repair pod and got in. He wasn't quite sure what was wrong, so he told it to do a thorough check-up and repair anything it found wrong. Before long, he was unconscious.

* * *

 

Rock wanted to wake up. If he was just sleeping, then he could wake up and find himself back home. It would make this a terrible nightmare, but that was better than it being real. This had happened too much in his dreams to be real. It couldn't be real. Wake up, wake up…

Barking interrupted his wishes. When he opened his eyes, the collapsed lab was still there. But there was also a red robot dog running up to him through the rain. "Rush?" Rock called out, not certain if he wanted to trust that.

But it was Rush, and the dog nearly knocked him over in his excitement. Rock hugged him and got quite a face licking for it. However, the lab was still in ruins. But if his dog was okay, maybe the others had escaped too.

"It's good to see you too," Rock said, patting him. "But where is everybody? What happened here? Oh, never mind that last one, just take me where everyone is. Please."

Rush dropped down, wagging his tail. He turned around and walked off quickly the way he had come. Once Rock started running through the muddy grass, Rush ran too. They were heading towards Monsteropolis, hopefully to everyone else and some answers.

They came to a suburban area where the streets were all lit. Most of the houses had lights on inside too, as it wasn't too late yet. While it all looked so normal, Rock felt like nothing was. As much as he wanted to see Thomas and Roll again, he was dreading the meeting too. How was he going to explain what had happened? Especially about Blues. He had done something dreadful, even if he didn't have much of a choice. But maybe he could have saved Blues and brought him back for repairs. Maybe he could have been fixed. Or maybe not. So little was certain.

After a long run, Rush brought him to one side of a gray duplex. It didn't seem like anything special; the lights were on inside, but the curtains were drawn. The dog went by the door and barked. Maybe it was smaller and maybe it didn't seem like a lot. But if his family was here, safe, then Rock could call it home. He knocked on the door.

He must have looked terrible, he thought. The navy blue armor was muddy and his face probably still looked like he had been crying. But Rush didn't care; the dog was just happy to see him again. And the rest of his family would be too. He tried to put a smile on his face, but it felt so forced.

Isaac opened the door, looking surprised. "Oh, Rock, you're back! And Rush? Well, come in; you shouldn't stay out too long."

"Hi Isaac," he said, coming in with his dog. "I'm sorry…"

"Don't worry, you're back. That's what matters. Thomas is downstairs; it's this way." He went through the kitchen and into a hall, eventually to a staircase.

This house didn't seem as neat as it should. And it was quiet. That worried Rock. "Where's Roll and the others? I saw our house; that was awful." He waited for a response while they went down the stairs, but Isaac wasn't saying anything. "Are, are they gone too?"

"Rock?" Thomas called out from downstairs. He really was alive.

That was some relief, but what about the others? Rock looked around at the computers and equipment down in the basement. After a moment, Thomas came into his view. He ran over and hugged him. "Dad! You're okay. But where is everyone else?"

There was a sad pause before Thomas patted his head. "They, they're all gone. There's just you, Rush, and X now."

"Even Roll?" When that was confirmed, Rock started crying again. "B-but that's not right… how could they?"

"We've been asking the same thing," Isaac said. They could only guess at the answers now.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was a delicate walk between canon and what the story has established already. Zero may seem OoC; then again, he hasn't experienced the things that establish his character. If he had been thinking clearly, he'd be more likely to keep Rock at the lab complex one way or another, or even kill him. If he'd said the wrong things, then Rock would have killed him. If Zero had agreed to leave with Rock, then Dr. Light would know far more about the virus and could make an effort to render it harmless. And if anyone could render the virus harmless at this time, Dr. Light would be the top possibility.  
> So in this story, Zero didn't kill any of the robot masters directly. Omega did get several killed indirectly. The government and the terrorists took out the vast majority.


	11. A Change of Circumstances

Zero stayed in the repair pod, even after the cover had lifted. It was claiming to detect no problems with him. But his mind and programming still seemed messy and chaotic. Not only that, but Omega was alert again. His other self (as best he could describe it) was irritable and easily angered now. And there were so many thoughts running through his head as his, or their, mind tried to rework itself. He could hear the words of Blues and Rock, or of Master Wily and Forte. Sometimes he even seemed to encounter ghostly images in his mind of others. It was almost like he and Omega weren't individuals, but competing structures on a foundation made of many other minds.

And it was a competition. Omega still insisted that he was nothing and often wrestled control away from him. Zero felt as if he should protect his home and family, and would regain control. Only, Omega insisted that those were unimportant concepts; they were to follow orders and be loyal to the Master. And he was only supposed to be a back-up anyhow, a part of him. Not a separate mind leeching control and power off him.

Even when Zero tried to assert himself, he did feel like one thing was right. Omega was the more powerful one, and the only way he could get into control would be to slip in when the other was distracted. That happened a lot while their programming was messed up like this.

Right now, his other self was trying to reorganize their movement programming. That was part of why he was sitting in a secure spot; if he tried to get up and walk away now, he might end up falling on his face. What had messed them up so badly?

There was a beep right before the door slid open. Zero looked up to see Dr. Wily enter the room. Even though he was on his feet again, the human seemed weakened. He had his hand on the doorframe to steady himself, apparently too proud to use a cane. It seemed like he had lost weight, as his clothes hung loosely on him. And his face was worn by lack of energy. As it was, he would especially need Zero's protection now. After a check to see that Omega was working on their combat movements, he finally got out of the pod and stood up. "Master."

He nodded. "There you are, Omega. How are things?"

"I'm not him," he said, shaking his head. "I'm Zero."

Albert gave him a harsh look. "What? I have no robot named Zero."

"I'm the back-up personality," he admitted. "There's problems on a programming level; I'm not certain what. Omega is trying to get it corrected." As he said his other's name, Zero felt him notice what was going on outside their body.

"Oh, is that so?" He rubbed his forehead. Wearily, he asked, "What is it now?"

He seems weak. Why am I following someone that's weak? That one did say that I didn't have to follow him. And the Master believes that machines are better than organics. He can't be the Master.

Zero closed his eyes, trying to retain control. He is the Master. I am loyal and so are you. He may be weak, but he made us. So we must protect him until he can be strong. That is what family is about.

In the doorway, Albert recalled that he wasn't supposed to do any strenuous work. At least, that's what the medical database recommended. But there was so much work to do now, more than he expected if Omega was having problems. And where had the back-up picked up the name Zero from? But no matter. "You… what happened with Rock?"

Zero and Omega dropped their inner argument briefly at the question. "I sent him home," Zero said. "He wanted to check on his family."

"Nice touch," Albert started to say, but then stared at him. "Wait, what? You sent him back alive?"

Zero nodded. "I did."

Immediately, Omega screamed at him. Zero winced as it caused a throbbing pain throughout his systems. What was that for? Then Albert spoke sharply, "What for? You were supposed to kill him."

"I…" he was? Then Omega told him. "Those were Omega's orders… I didn't know. Rock defeated Omega."

"What?" Albert asked in disbelief. "How could he… and then you… oh this is a fine mess. You, the both of you it seems, have disappointed me greatly. I want to know exactly what happened so that we can… address this issue…" he swore under his breath, leaning further against the wall. "I will make this body survive until I can do something about this…" his words were getting weaker.

In the meantime, Zero found himself shoved out of control so that Omega could command their body. He was thinking that he would kill Rock, even with this setback. Zero felt concerned, as Rock was his friend, and one was supposed to protect friends. But family was important too, and he had somehow betrayed them in ignorance. On top of that, Omega was disgusted with how weak Albert was. The human couldn't even stand up straight or hold a conversation. But their disorganized programming reacted badly to all those strong thoughts, causing more pain and confusion. Somehow, Omega thought that the solution to that was to grab Albert and smash him against the doorframe. Their creator crumpled immediately, dead.

The base security system noticed the death and went haywire, causing red lights to flash and sirens to blare. In case of the master's death, it was to make sure that the killer would not escape and that there would be nothing left to find. It set the hidden weaponry use to a hundred percent and began blasting everything to smithereens.

Omega/Zero noticed and quickly realized that the base would not discriminate. He darted out of the room and dashed through the halls. All around him, there were bullet streams, energy beams, electrical sparks, explosive spike traps, and nearly anything deadly and non-sentient that Albert had ever designed. He had to bolt through at full speed, contorting his body every which way in immediate acrobatics in order to get through with minimal damage. The systems would have destroyed all the teleporters, so his options of escape were to reach the old subway tunnels which had paths to the active subway system, or finding the long tunnel to reach the countryside exit.

Deciding to go for the subway tunnels, he made good progress on his escape. But then there was a gap in his weaving patterns. In the moment of disorientation, a small weapons laser struck his left hip. That mistake threw him off completely and his body was soon riddled with hundreds of bullet shells. It collapsed onto the floor, only to get further ripped apart by the weapons.

After fifteen minutes, the weapons had run out of energy, knocked each other out, or come up with some other malfunction. Dr. Wily's hidden laboratory was shredded and ruined. Every robot, from the red android to the housekeeper bots, were all destroyed. It was almost all gone.

Almost. Albert had made preparations for many possibilities and one room escaped the destruction of the rest. An automated build pod turned on, only indicated by a small red light. Omega and Zero's programming had transmitted to and settled into it, still messed up. But it would be some time before the next body would be ready. They could work out how to fix things.

Omega felt that the first thing that had to go was Zero. Zero was going to fight that as much as he could.

* * *

 

Rock had to stay inside. He had to stay in the basement. In the time that he had been gone, a law ordering the destruction of potentially dangerous advanced robots had gone into effect. And his history as a hero wouldn't save him. Roll had been killed because of this law. At least he no longer had to wear that armor Dr. Wily had made him.

That seemed like such a petty thing to be glad about in contrast with everything else.

In the basement, he had been given his own room, of sorts. It was blocked off by some filing cabinets and an electrical generator. There was a cot, a bookshelf, a metal folding chair, and a small rug. In the bookshelf, there were only a few small books. He hadn't asked for his remote controlled cars and games to be replaced, so there was only a cheap bag of marbles as a toy. Rock had thought about asking to keep the hover skates, but as he was stuck down here, there didn't seem to be a point.

Thomas and Isaac had been interested in the things he had returned with, the upgrades that Dr. Wily had invented. It was obvious his technology was centered on war, the latter had noted, as it was all focused on battle ability and strategies. Still, it might be adaptable for peace-time use. That is, if peace ever returned and if others would accept the technology. That always hurt Thomas.

He had changed from before, Rock thought. His dad had always been so optimistic, seeing the good in everyone (maybe even Dr. Wily). Whenever one would greet him, Thomas would always smile and welcome whoever had come to him. Now he was so cautious. He might not say it, but Rock could see that he was afraid of losing even more. He was especially fretful about X.

X. Thomas was often down here doing things for X. Like the companionship program that Blues had given to Rock; Thomas and Isaac were adapting it so that X would have an AI companion based on his father. He spoke about giving a second to Rock, but it always seemed like an afterthought. He came after X. Rock hated that, but he couldn't hate X. He could hate himself for being such a failure that he'd caused Thomas to lose so much. If he had been able to deal with Three when the commando had kidnapped him, and if he could have stayed, he should have been able to detect the bombs and save everyone. But he had failed…

Clenching his fist, Rock tried to talk himself out of it. Nobody had expected the bombs, so there was no telling if him being here would have changed anything. And then the government agents would have killed him and Roll. Unless he ran away with her and hid out somewhere. If he'd been prepared, he could have done that. They would have been away from their father, but at least Roll wouldn't be dead. He couldn't protect her in reality, though, which made him a horrible brother.

No, this wasn't right either. He shouldn't hate himself. If Thomas realized Rock felt like that, he would be upset and hurt… disappointed further in his failure… no, he'd done what he'd could. He had stopped Omega from adding to all the madness. But then Zero, Rock hadn't heard anything more from him. It had been three months since he'd seen Zero. If he had been successful, then he and his father might have come to get assistance. They hadn't. Rock had even told Thomas and Isaac that his new friend might come. But he didn't. Rock had left him in bad shape, and so he was probably dead too. He was really awful, unable to protect anybody but himself.

Rock got up from lying on the cot. The house was quiet. A while ago, Thomas and Isaac had left to try talking with the police. They were searching the ruins of the lab. Although his dad had tried to keep it from him, Rock was able to figure it out. The police were searching for him. But if they dug deep enough, they would find the teleporter that led to X's room. They wouldn't understand and they would kill X before he was really alive. All because they couldn't find Rock.

On the rug, Rush perked his ears up at Rock's movements. He lifted his head and panted, looking happy. Rock couldn't bring himself to smile, though. He dropped down on the floor and hugged his dog. "I wish I could be more like you," he said with his head against the dog's. "Then I'd be happy too, just to be home."

A police siren went off outside, causing Rock to tense. It started moving towards the house, then went away. But, it shouldn't be like that. He had worked with the police many times before. And the police were usually a good sign; he saw them at the end of his battles with Dr. Wily and their presence meant that the violence was over. For a time, anyhow.

Then the phone rang. He left his 'room' and went to check the caller ID screen. Seeing that it was Isaac's cell phone, Rock answered the call. "Hello. What is it?"

"Lan," Isaac replied, using a code name they had decided on. "I… there's bad news, I'm afraid."

Was his dad dead? "Wh-what is it?" Rock asked, eyes widening.

"We were shot at in the parking lot of the police station," he said, sounding unsettled, probably still fearful. "Dr. Light took a bullet to his spine."

"Is he dead?" Rock asked. No, this couldn't be happening. How could he protect them when he couldn't leave the basement? He hadn't wanted them both to go, but it had to be taken care of. What was he supposed to do if his dad was dead?

"No," Isaac said. "He's in surgery right now, but he could end up paralyzed. I thought you should know, though."

At least he was alive. Rock dropped into an office chair. "What about you? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, for now. I got shot in the shoulder, but they've fixed that up already. Look, I'll be back as soon as they release me. If he has to stay here for long…" his voice lowered, "we'll see about getting you here somehow."

"O-okay. But what about the lab search?"

"I'll try calling the police and our lawyer, but it's going to be hard. Lan… don't do anything rash. We'll talk about this later."

"Yeah. I guess I'll see you later then. But make sure dad's going to be okay first."

"I will. I'll see you back home."

As Rock hung up and put the phone back on its stand, he thought that this place wasn't really home. And it wasn't ever going to be like home, not with how everything had changed. He used to be able to do things. Now he was just waiting, hiding from danger instead of fighting it.

After some time, he went over to the laundry room. Among cleaning supplies, a washer, a dryer, and rag bin, there was a teleport pad. It wasn't the usual permanent model. Instead, it was a mobile station that could be quickly pulled down and hid if people came over. But it still linked to X's chamber.

"Stay here Rush," Rock said. At the sad look on his face, he patted the dog's head. "I'm sorry, but you can't go there. I won't be long; I have to be here when Isaac gets back."

Rush whined, but lay down there to wait.

"Good boy." He put his password into the teleporter and went to see his younger brother.

X was no longer on the table, as his pod had been moved to stand upright against the back wall. The machinery around him hummed with activity; various indicator lights shone or blinked, giving a visual shorthand message that Rock couldn't interpret. After getting the top half to open up, Rock could see that his brother was dressed now, in a white t-shirt and a blue jacket. That meant that X was completed now, just running through his extremely long tests so that he would be ready.

What did he want to do here? Rock wasn't sure; it had just been an impulse and he didn't have anything else to do. "Dad's in the hospital," he said, his voice carrying over the machinery noise. "He's supposed to survive, but it's hard to say…"

X stayed still. He wouldn't be able to hear him.

"And Dr. Wily might be dead," Rock added. "It's been three months since I was there. I haven't heard anything from or about him, even though he indicated that he would hunt down the Authoritarians. But none of them have died. Everyone says that Wily is just a big joke now. A lot of scientists are dead, robots too. We're just about the only ones left, me, you, and Rush."

How was that? Everything had seemed good and promising a year ago. Even back to when he had first seen X, even that had been a good time. It had all been crushed to nothing since then.

He sniffled. "I don't get it," he said, looking down. "I changed my purpose long ago so that I could protect peace. I wanted to make sure that people were safe, to limit how much suffering Dr. Wily caused. I should have always been on the front lines. But then I got afraid of fighting and I never wanted to fight again, because of my nightmares of the ones I destroyed. Now there's so much destroyed… and I'm still here. I'm the one who has to be protected, me and you. I should have been one of the first ones dead."

An out of place beep interrupted him. Rock glanced around. For a moment, his mind imagined some gun coming out of the wall and shooting everywhere. Reactions like that happened so much ever since he had returned, even knowing that his dad would never put hidden weapons in his lab. Sometimes, he even felt like this was some delusion and he was still in Wily's labs. Dr. Wily had wanted Omega to kill him and would find reasons to keep Rock in one place. But no, that could not be proven. Then he wondered if someone would come through the teleporter. Like a police investigator looking for him, only to find him and X.

Nothing happened. It must have been the machinery.

"I'm an awful brother too," he admitted, now that it was only a dreaming X to hear him. "I killed Blues. And I lied about that, telling Dad and Isaac that Omega killed him. He said that he would rather be killed, and he wasn't even himself… but I should have tried. I should have been able to save him. And I'm jealous of you too. You're not even awake, but Dad's been spending so much time trying to make sure that you'll be safe and happy. Even if, as a human, he can't live that long. And, you won't know him, but I do. I can be with him… and here I am jealous of you. But he did make you so much better, and being turned into an android only turned me into a failure. Maybe you do deserve his love more than me. I was trying to be a hero and came out a murderer…"

Of his own brother even. And maybe even Roll in a way. The police could have looked at his transformation from a lab assistant to a fighting robot and assumed that the same could be done to Roll, and she was therefore a potential threat. He wanted to cry, but it seemed pointless. Rather, it would make more sense if he simply shut himself down and never reactivate again. The guilt, the sadness, the way he seemed to escape punishment of it all, it was too overwhelming and Rock didn't want to deal with it anymore. There was no way to fix things anymore, nowhere to start from. Unless he were to kill the Authoritarians himself. But that would be crossing the line into evil, unless he'd crossed that line already.

"No, I have to stay around,' he said, to himself now. "Dad still loves me and it would hurt him terribly if I were gone too." Rock grimaced. "But he likes you better. Maybe he wouldn't care if I was gone, so long as you were still here. Maybe he doesn't really love me anymore. If he knew the truth, then he definitely wouldn't. Maybe he'd even hate… no, that can't be! He loves me. But he loves Blues too, and if he knew what really happened… I can't tell him. He's depressed already and I hate seeing him like that, and I have to support him. But I can't protect him, not if I'm supposed to stay down here. What should I really be doing?"

Rock looked up to X and was startled to see movement. It was slight, just a trembling. While he watched in puzzlement, parts of X's face twitched. Rock was alarmed for a moment that some problem had come up, right when neither Thomas nor Isaac could come check. But none of the machinery watching over X seemed to find this worrisome. Then he started to notice that X seemed upset somehow, or fearful, of whatever was going on in his tests.

"You have nightmares too?" he asked. "Of course you do. You're like me." X's hands were resting near his stomach, at the edge of the portion that was shifted away. Rock took one of his brother's hands and clasped it. "You don't even have the chance of waking up from it. But don't give up. Dad always wanted to build a robot like you, one that was so human that it could be anything it wanted to be, instead of what others wanted. Your own life is on the line, so don't be like me and fail at Dad's dream."

After he said it, Rock felt sheepish at having said it. Even if he tried, X wouldn't be able to hear any encouragement. But then his brother managed to tighten his clasp on Rock's hand. The room seemed hushed then; if there had been some fear, it seemed to have gone. X partly opened his eyes. Had he awoken him early on accident? No. His eyes shifted about to some inner vision, then closed again. His lips moved, maybe trying to say something. No sound came out. Then he was still, whatever trouble the test had given him past.

Rock stayed there for a few more minutes, as X still had a grasp on his hand. In that time, something changed. He no longer wanted to be jealous of his younger brother. X was really helpless like this. All that was keeping him safe, it seemed, was the bluff that he did not exist. Rock could at least remember being happy. X had to wait to really live, and be happy.

Being that he couldn't take his brother out of the pod, Rock settled for taking his hand in both of his and pressing it to his cheek, instead of a hug. "Don't be afraid," he said gently. "They won't find you until you're ready. You, you're going to fulfill Dad's dream, I know it. Don't worry about me. I'm your big brother, and I love you."

Then he put X's hand back where it should be and had the pod close back up again. Rock returned to the basement, a plan making itself in his head. There was just one problem with it that he could see, and it faced him right as he appeared. Rush got up as soon as he came through, woofing softly.

"Hey Rush," he said, smiling weakly. It was the first time in a long while that his smile hadn't felt forced. Still, he felt a knot of guilt for what he was going to do. "Everything okay here?"

The robot dog licked his arm in response. Rock patted him. He had to come up with some excuse.

"I got to go outside for a minute," he said. "I know it's dangerous, but I gotta take care of something. You stay here Rush. You, you got to protect what's here. Okay? I'm sorry to leave you again, but this is the only way everything's going to turn out all right."

He whined for a moment, giving him a begging look to stay. Dad had told him that the dog had gotten badly distressed when he had been kidnapped. Still, he wasn't going to leave this secret lab without someone to guard it.

Rock hugged Rush. "You've been a wonderful dog and friend," he said, starting to tear up some. "I love you so much. You've been there to help me when you could, and to keep me company when I had bad dreams. But I won't bring you into this. This is something that I have to do."

Again, Rush whined. But then he licked Rock's cheek and gave an affirmative bark. He trusted his boy, even if he probably shouldn't have.

"Thank you. Goodbye, Rush."

He nearly took off then, but then thought better of it. He found a notebook and wrote a long note to his father. While it was hard, he had to explain what he was doing. He added a smaller note for Isaac, briefly recalling his warning to not be rash. But this wasn't rash. It was necessary.

Leaving the notebook open to where it would be found, Rock then went upstairs and left the house. There was no one around this time of day, but he still was cautious as he ran into the countryside. It wouldn't do to get seen in the wrong place. Several minutes later, he arrived at the site of his home.

There were machines here now, pulling out the rubble into piles that could be better searched. The whole area was blocked off with yellow tape and guards in police uniforms. Despite this, Rock didn't feel scared. He felt strongly relieved. Maybe that was a bad reaction, but he wasn't going to let something small like that deter him.

He walked around the perimeter until he came to a section with heavier tree cover and two guards talking. Reviewing his plan, Rock went around a tree and walked up to the guards. "Excuse me," he said, trying to sound polite and clueless. "But I heard that you were looking for me."

The police guards looked surprised, but soon wore neutral emotional masks too. "Yes, we were," one said casually, although he must have known. "You and Blues."

"Oh." He let himself show some of the sadness he had been bearing. "Blues got destroyed. Me and him, and Forte, we were fighting against Dr. Wily. I was the only one to come out alive. But then I heard that the police were looking for me. What's going on? I couldn't arrive directly here."

"I see." He nodded to his partner, who moved aside and brought out a cell phone. "Some terrorists have attacked this place. Stay here; the chief will inform you more in a moment."

"Really?" he asked, acting scared, as though he hadn't seen the wreckage himself months ago. "How is everyone? Did anyone get hurt?"

The guard held a hand up. "It's okay, Rock, keep calm. Dr. Light is elsewhere. Things will be settled shortly."

He nodded. He knew they were going to kill him. Maybe they were even trying to trick him so that he didn't fight back. But, that was okay. He'd decided this back in X's chamber. If they knew where he was, and heard that the others were destroyed, then they would stop searching here. They'd never find out where the teleport chamber in the basement went.

And X would stay a secret, safe in his dreams.

* * *

 

It has been found, through scientific studies, that personal outlook has a strong factor in how likely a patient in critical condition will survive. A strong positive outlook with external support can bring a patient back from the brink. A negative outlook with external worries can lengthen a patient's stay, or end his or her life. Dr. Thomas Light was told the contents of Rock's suicide note before he had fully recovered. Officially, he died due to complications in his recovery from the bullet hit. But a number of people agreed that he may have truly died of a broken heart.

Dr. Albert Wily was never found. The city he had hid beneath recovered itself, not even realizing what lay under its grounds. After his odd speech lashing out after Roll's death, no actions came. People were soon joking about his attacks and threats, trying to distance themselves from the real damage that he had done.

Nearly every robot master in existence, and even some lesser robots, was destroyed due to the terrorists or the government. The scientists who made them quickly learned to publicly renounce their work or be killed as well. In secret, the Library of Alexandria project became a common connection. The sciences would have to go underground until a time when its followers could gain public support again.

It seemed so much was lost, but what was left?

Underground in a single chamber, Dr. Light's last creation, X, was being tested and trained to get along with people. That is, when they were ready to accept an android as an equal.

Underground in a ruined complex, Dr. Wily's last creation, Omega, was trying to fix his own programming without any assistance. He had been made to alter and affect programming, but it was different when reconstructing himself. And he had to deal with his traitorous back-up personality Zero as well. Zero put his focus to simply surviving.

And there was the apprentice and the dog.


	12. The Dog, The Apprentice, and The President

Even when he saw Rush come through the door, Isaac didn't fully show how relieved he was. The red dog robot wagged his tail on seeing Isaac and came to sit right at his side. The Robotics Control officer came in through another door, behind the desk area. "This is simply a pet-class robot," the officer said, handing some papers to a clerk. "No weapons or combat abilities, nor the capacity to have them."

Exactly what he wanted them to find. Isaac had to do a lot of work to remove Rush's combat abilities and programs, although he had left the option to restore them, if such a need ever came up. But it had taken quite a bit of work to hide that option.

"All right, then we'll give you a license to own and work on such a robot," the clerk said. "You will have to document all work you do on him to prove that he stays legal."

Isaac nodded. "Sure thing."

"There is one more thing we'd like to ask you about," the officer said. "You own a lot of computers and productive machines. What are you doing with all that equipment?"

Having expected this, he had prepared his answer. "Ah yes, well some of it I'm thinking of keeping as heirloom technology, perhaps registering them as antiques once enough time passes. But I am using the computers and other machines to continue some of Dr. Light's work…" the officer and the clerk looked to him, suspicious, "on finding evidence of and contacting alien races."

The suspicion immediately deflated. The clerk smiled in amusement and went back to preparing the license for printing. By the counter, the officer nodded. "I see. I hadn't known that he was into that."

Isaac leaned on the counter and let himself speak with enthusiasm he didn't feel. "Well it was a branch of study that he unfortunately neglected, even though he had some very compelling theories, even some evidence that needed thorough examination. I've realized recently that my real passion is finding such intelligent life other than humankind, living somewhere in outer space. The robotics was just a fad, something that I don't mind giving up. Contacting an alien race could be an amazing step forward for us, an opportunity that can't be ignored. But we have to be trying, or they might ignore us."

"Right, that could happen," the officer said. "Well good luck with that."

A minute later, the clerk pulled out a laminated card, then handed it to Isaac. "Here you go, sir. Just keep an eye on your dog."

"Right, I will. Thank you." He put it into his wallet, then left.

"Can you believe that loon?" the clerk said as the door was shutting behind Isaac and Rush.

"You guys could have waited until I was fully gone," Isaac said under this breath.

Rush gave him a questioning look.

"Don't worry, Rush, you're safe now," Isaac said. But when he got back into his car, he sighed and stalled for a moment. The things he had to do in order to complete his preservation work. And even that hadn't saved Rock or Thomas.

They got back to the suburban home that Thomas had acquired after the destruction of his lab. He had made an adjustment to his will to leave some things, like Rush and this house, to Isaac. And there was X too, but very few people knew about him, so there was no legal contention for him to take custody of the android. But this place was reminding him overwhelmingly of the tragedy.

Downstairs, Isaac made a final check over one project. It was the companion AI for X. He had activated it last night and spoke with the holographic image of Dr. Light, seeing how well it matched the real person. While it had been a good conversationalist, it was more like Thomas had been prior to Rock's kidnapping. That was probably good for X, even if Isaac found that it bothered him.

It was done, so Isaac picked up the disc-shaped device and went to the laundry room. Rush had been sniffing around; he was searching for Rock, Isaac felt. In the mornings, he usually found the dog by the kitchen door, waiting on his boy. With Thomas gone too, Rush was depressed again (much as Isaac was). Still, the dog followed him around, being the only person in the house now.

As he started up the teleport, he noticed Rush automatically lay down near it. Isaac felt pity for him, so he snapped his fingers. "Rush, would you like to come with me?"

Rush pricked his ears up, then got up and barked. His tail was wagging again. At that, Isaac recalled Thomas saying that Rush often associated teleporting with getting sent to help Rock. So even when his combat abilities had been taken away, that was what he was expecting.

He hoped this wouldn't disappoint the dog too much. Isaac let Rush onto the pad, then sent them both to X's chamber.

Once there, the dog began sniffing and looking around. As it was a small room, it wasn't long before he whined in anxiety. Isaac had gone over to the back wall and requested that it pull X's pod out to lie on the ground. "Hush," he said, then let the pod identify him. It opened up the full cover, revealing X dressed in his casual clothes.

Rush barked, which momentarily startled Isaac. The dog hopped over to his side and started licking X's face. When he didn't get an immediate response, he nosed the android's cheek.

The young man smiled at that, then tried to pull Rush back. "Careful, boy. I didn't expect you to get all excited about this. This is X."

While the dog robot did quiet, he seemed puzzled by being held back. He nudged X's arm this time. It was like when he was trying to cheer Rock.

Isaac looked to X, then at Rush. The dog looked expectant, as if asking for help. "You think he's Rock? He's like him, but made to look older."

Rush barked, then pawed at him.

How much did the dog understand? He could fool himself to think that X was Rock; maybe he really didn't recognize the difference, or maybe he was capable of wishful thinking. And Rock had gotten the dog to do many things by telling him to. "We've done something big here," Isaac said, putting his hand on Rush's back. "He has to go under a lot of testing, so he's going to be asleep for a great many years."

In response, Rush whined and held his ears back. He didn't like hearing that.

"I'm sorry, but it must be done." He then had an idea. He didn't want to do it, in a way. Rush was his only remaining companion. But then, maybe it could work out well. "But maybe… Rush, I could put you in stasis here. You don't need anything big like he's going through. But you could sleep here, and when he wakes up, you'll wake up too. And then you can be with him. Would you like that?"

His ears went up again and he jumped up with his front legs with excitement. That was a good idea to him, enough to be worth three barks.

It gave Isaac a bittersweet feeling of warmth. But he nodded. "All right, if that's what you want. I'm sure that X… I mean, that he will be happy with that."

Then what he had come to do. He took the companion disc and placed it in the front pocket of X's jacket. An extra portion would have to be added to the guardian programs in order to link the AI's activation with X's. And Rush too.

* * *

 

It had been several years since the deaths of Rock and Dr. Light. Isaac had worked on preparing Rush for stasis, but he kept finding things to delay it with, reluctant to lose this companion too. While it was just him and Rush here, Isaac had the distant company of other scientists working on preserving papers, books, and knowledge. He traveled a lot to meet with them, or to set up new databanks in secure locations. He could guarantee the safety of the original database, located in X's chambers, but he had yet to tell anybody of where that was. Someday, he would have to. It was just a matter of finding someone trustworthy enough.

In the meantime, he had prepared for the worst. X's ethical testing was supposed to run thirty years. In case he had to be held back from full activation, Isaac had allowed for a 'dream reality' to keep X's mind occupied. He allowed it access to the Library of Congress and the Library of Alexandria, but no more than that. Hopefully he wouldn't be too long in that state; a lot could change in thirty years. Isaac also designed a test to unlock X. He wasn't sure if it would be what Thomas would want, but he hoped the test would pull out a sympathetic intellectual if he couldn't do it himself.

Isaac had also begun work on a history of this time so that it was not fully lost by the Authoritarian propaganda. That required looking into the labs of other famous roboticists; he had to be careful not to attract suspicion due to that. However, there was another viewpoint that he wanted information on: Albert Wily. Unfortunately, no one alive knew anything about his whereabouts, or condition.

But Rock had known. He had given them coordinates to the point that was supposedly the entrance to the secret labs. He had also mentioned something of an android named Zero who was kin to a robot named Two, made by Robert Langley. However, Thomas had quietly informed him that 'Robert Langley' was a pseudonym that Albert had used, at least once. But then Zero had helped Rock and the boy robot considered him a friend. They hadn't wanted to disappoint him with that truth, but agreed to be careful. But then Isaac had never heard about this Zero again.

One day, Isaac and Rush went to the point in Ontario that Rock had given him. The city had been destroyed by a missile during that cataclysmic year, but it was now cleared out and rebuilding. The specific lot was untouched thus far, left to weeds and other hardy plants. That only made the steel door stand out all the more. Lifting it up revealed a staircase that went into darkness. Rush started down slowly, sniffing around.

Isaac had come prepared, with a personal hovercraft and an assortment of tools he thought would be helpful in breaking into a mad scientist's lair. Of course, he might have trouble if the security forces were overly violent and sensitive. But it had been five years and no one had heard anything out of Dr. Wily. So they might be fine.

Isaac put on a safety helmet that included a low-light visor and a mouth-nose filter, then steered the craft down the staircase. Rock had mentioned pressure-plate triggered wall guns, so this could help. At the end of the staircase, there was a short area of flat hall, then an elevator shaft. Isaac left the craft and tried pressing the buttons, but there was no power. But after prying the cover off the control panel and fiddling with the wires, he managed to get the door open and make sure that it would stay open.

Feeling a nudge at his side, he looked down. Rush had his ears up and his tail wagging. "Wufff," he said softly, almost like a sneeze. He also twisted his head about in a negative fashion.

"Nothing dangerous here, then?" he asked softly, although he knew the answer would be confirming that. Thomas had done an excellent job on making Rush like a real dog. He then looked down the elevator shaft.

Inside, there was a long drop. Not even his low-light visor was any good. He brought out an LED lamp and turned it on, turning off the low-light vision assistance. No help either, although it showed some doors on other levels. Fine, they would have to go down. Since Rush no longer had his flight module, Isaac whistled at him to get him into the hovercraft too. Then they descended the elevator shaft.

According to his equipment, he had passed by a scanning barrier that kept people from detecting this place. Isaac used the sensors he had to examine the areas around the shaft. At first, there was a couple of old subway tunnels, with not much interesting detected. But past that, there was an area that seemed to have some electrical power running. Given how small the system was, it seemed to be a self-contained one, with a generator powering a handful of machines. Isaac stopped at that level, labeled with the Greek letter alpha. He had to force that door to open too, as it wasn't part of the system.

His first view of level Alpha caused Isaac to feel spooked. Rush tensed, his ears held back. This place wasn't just abandoned; it had been ripped apart and then abandoned. Everything was damaged: the walls were rough, parts of the ceiling appeared to have melted and reformed, the floors had scorch marks all the way across, bullet holes were in everything. Along the hall, there were scattered frames of robots, ripped apart by multiple weapons. It made him hesitant to enter.

But, another check proved that there was no power to those weapons. And by the lamp light, he could see that the weapons were badly damaged anyway. They might be safe, or there might still be one armed out there. But the curiosity of seeing what system remained running lured Isaac into guiding his hovercraft cautiously through the hall.

Out of one door, a path of bluish light streamed out. That was the room where the electrical system was located. Isaac scanned the room for any active weaponry. When it came up negative, he left the hovercraft and entered. Following suit, Rush started checking out the area by his senses. The dog might just come up with something the human would miss.

The place seemed to be a mix of a lab and a security room. A panel of nine screens took up one wall, showing various spots outside. One even showed a live broadcast from a 24 hour news station. Opposite of that, there was a wall full of storage bins. It seemed to be a lot of tools and manufacturing equipment. Over in the corner, a brown helmeted Met was sitting, apparently inactive. It had a label on its front that marked it as a scavenger. Those were usually employed by junkyards to ferret out valuable metals.

And against the back wall, there was a large piece of equipment that Isaac recognized as an automated build and repair station for a robot master. It had two pods: one for small robots like the scavenger Met, and the other for a human-sized robot. An adult human-sized robot, which was unusual. There was nothing in the small pod, but the other held an occupant visible through the clear lid: a male model of an idealized Caucasian appearance with red and gold armor. Although he wore a helmet, a strand of yellow-blond hair showed behind one side of his neck. This had to be Zero.

What was he doing here, in this one working room in a demolished lab? It seemed suspicious to Isaac. But he didn't seem to be activated currently. So the scientist went to the screen display and used the keyboard to access the network.

While he expected to take a long time cracking into Wily's security, it only took ten minutes for him to get in and register himself as an authorized user. It even gave him codes and instructions on how to access the network from outside the lab. Isaac wondered if Albert never expected anyone to get in here without his notice. At any rate, this would be useful for his research. He searched around the database.

It wasn't much good. A lot of the data had been lost when the lab had destroyed itself. And that's exactly what it had done; he was able to find records indicated that Albert Wily had died a couple of days after Rock had left. After that, the lab base automatically shredded itself. But this room and some information was to remain. It included a number of long documents from Wily, as well as information on the android that this room had been made for. But not Zero; this was Omega's room.

Zero was Omega. Isaac didn't want to believe it entirely, as Rock had claimed Zero as a new friend while this information claimed that Omega was to be Wily's enforcer. However, the android in the pod was identified as Omega in the system, while matching the description Rock had given of Zero. Wondering, Isaac asked the computer what Omega would do now that Dr. Wily was dead. It reported that Omega still had an uncompleted order to kill Rock. And once he was repaired, he was to take revenge by destroying everyone to create Wily's mechanical ideal world. If Omega got killed, he would simply regenerate here.

And thanks to the Robotics Control laws, it would be really difficult to fight him.

Yet, 'Zero' had helped Rock. It didn't entirely make sense. Then again, Thomas had said on a few occasions that most androids would not be fully evil, or fully good. They were like humans; the extremes were rare exceptions. Maybe Omega had some good in him, at least the part that was Zero.

Isaac didn't quite get it. This would take looking further into, but he didn't look forward to spending a long time down here. However, the computer showed that Omega's body was basically complete. He was still doing some work internally, but he could awaken himself and emerge at any time. That was worrisome. Maybe if Isaac understood more about this android…

Looking over the pod, an idea came to him. Isaac didn't have everything he wanted in the stuff he brought, but searching through the bins got him the hardware he wanted: a pair of hook and eye attachments. After double-checking how the pod would move, he brought out his tools to attach the metal eye loops to the pod's lid, which would shift downward to open. Then he attached the hook pieces to the stationary sides, on level with the eye loops. The hooks were curled inward, so he could fit them loosely from the bottom. But when Omega tried to open the pod, it would push the eye loops down into the hooks. Provided that his work was secure, it would keep the pod from opening fully.

It would work for now, at least. Once Isaac had figured out how this android operated, he might be able to retrain it to a less violent state. Knowing how he worked and how to fix him would be a lever to get him to do what Isaac wanted.

With that done, he checked the time. Government and terrorist agents were still watching him. Maybe he was paranoid, but he'd had too many close calls to convince himself that it was worthwhile not being paranoid. If he was gone for too long, questions might come up. He'd have to do his research from outside this facility, where he could more easily disguise what he was doing. He closed his account on the security computer, then brought his things back to his hovercraft. "Rush, time to go," he said softly. It was quiet enough for that near whisper to carry.

There was a metallic 'thunk' behind him.

Tense, Isaac turned and saw that the lid to Omega/Zero's pod had shifted. The simple hardware was holding, though, forcing the lid to close back up rather than break the pod's cover. The android inside had his eyes open, focusing outside to find out why he couldn't leave. If he saw enough of Isaac to recognize him later, that would wreck any plans to rehabilitate him.

Hoping the LED lamp backlit him enough to put him fully in the shadows, Isaac activated the hovercraft so he could easily push it away from the doorway, then get inside. Rush jumped up beside him, close to whining in worry. As he no longer had combat abilities, there would be little the dog could do if the android got loose. There was another thunk from inside the room as Omega tried again. Isaac's heart was pounding as he drove back through the hall and up the elevator shaft. If that android got out, it could be a rough job containing and controlling him, at least until he wasn't a threat anymore.

He got above ground, but still didn't feel safe. He looked back down the staircase, wondering if Omega had gotten free and tracked him here. He didn't think the shaft would be an obstacle, not after seeing those wall cling additions that Rock had. So he was completely thrown off by the voice that came behind him.

"Hey, stranger," a gruff-sounding male called out. "What've you got that armored vest for?"

Isaac turned back to see a group of four men. Thugs, he thought, but they were all carrying guns. Beside him, Rush growled softly. The armored vest had been a precaution for entering Dr. Wily's hidden lab. But he didn't think that explanation would work to well for these people. "Oh, it's…" he tried to come up with something, but his nerve-wracked mind was drawing a blank.

"Are you a cop?" another asked.

"No," he said.

"Then you must be one of them technofreaks." And right as he finished speaking he pulled out his gun and fired twice at Isaac.

One hit the vest and was caught before it did any harm. The other blasted through his right arm, possibly shattering the bone. It was intensely painful at any rate. "Hey, I can explain," he said hurriedly. But he wasn't sure one of his usual excuses would work here.

"Shut up," the one who had shot him said. "I worked on the execution squads, but I always thought one of you went missing." He came closer as he spoke, then shot Isaac in the head, where his safety helmet couldn't cover.

Barking sharply, Rush jumped out of the craft and at the thug. He didn't have his usual equipment. But he did have his teeth, so he bit the thug's nose, causing him to yelp. Two of the other thugs fired at the red dog, not doing significant damage. Even if Rush was now geared towards being a pet, they had killed his companion! He wasn't going to let them get away with this.

Back on the ground now, Rush rammed his head into the thug's leg, hoping to knock him over. The killer fired at Rush now. But he had been honest; he had been on the execution squads of the terrorists. And he knew how to finish off a robot. He shot at the dog's head, then at his front torso where a real dog's heart would be. Once Rush collapsed, he ordered his three companions to keep firing into the robot until there was no chance that he could reactivate. Even then, the dog would have to be incinerated, just in case.

"How're you gonna explain this?" another one of the four asked, looking at the scientist's corpse.

"Don't worry; it'll get ignored like the rest." He walked over to the open trapdoor that led to the staircase. "But this… could be a problem. It might be his hidden lab or something. We ought to board it up and fill the staircase with concrete, so nothing gets in or out."

"Sure thing, boss."

* * *

 

Far away from the troubles of the world, there was a quiet tropical island. It was an oval ring of coral reef, covered in soft sands and native plants. It was too far from any mainland for any country to claim, and didn't have the resources to attract sailors. However, there was a value to being so remote, as well as being pristine and beautiful. Thus, the little island had gained an owner, and a state of the art thirty room vacation home built on its northern rim.

Out on the sands of the island was the owner, an almost elderly man who looked about half his true age, thanks to hair implants and other cosmetic surgeries. He was also the president of the global government, although that wasn't the name used on the island estate papers. Many in the world knew that he was vacationing, but most people thought he was elsewhere, where he had a body-double out drawing attention from him. Being liked and respected was great, but it was also good to get away from it all.

He put his book down and looked over the ocean waters in front of him. Something had been bugging him lately. Maybe he couldn't keep that secret forever. In which case, it was best to control how it got out. Thinking that he should start putting ideas together, he pulled out a digital voice recorder and turned it on.

"How should I start to tell the story?" he asked of himself. No one was around to speak with, except for his servants. "I guess with myself and why I started this.

"I was the top student at my high school and did well in everything. Although, it seemed the only classes I had to try in were the sciences. I could do math, I could do writing, and I could do critical thinking, but the science teachers always expected you to use all those skills together. Along with memorizing all sorts of formulas and laws, including ones that you might not even need to use again unless you went on to study science further. And they were always so adamant about proof, while admitting that a lot of what they knew were hypothesizes that had yet to be proven false and theories with indirect proofs. If they're so concerned about truth, then why are they working with things that they fully admit may be false? Or doing things that may, no, will have unintended consequences. You hear that a lot from the inventors, that the things are so complex now that they can't fully estimate what will happen.

"So I suppose I never really got the scientists in the first place. Although there were a few branches that did interest me: psychology and micro-economics. I've always been good with people; I know what drives them and can make a good assessment about a person in a ten-minute conversation. I know what buttons to push with people and what lures they were come for. In school, I made myself popular and in power, as much as a student can be in power. I admit, I even got several of the self-proclaimed nerds to do my science work for me, so that my record remained unblemished.

"People always told me that the real world would be different. That is so in some ways. But in other ways, I was able to use my knowledge and experience to gain power rapidly. I knew some of the political sciences, as they are called, but I learned much of that on the job, starting as an intern and working my way up to a representative, once I was old enough. That was when Dr. Wily turned against the world. One man was able to bring such chaos, even though only a few cities were affected by the initial conflict. And he wasn't the only force of unrest. The global government was doing all they could, but they did not have enough power or sway over the people.

"And then people called some robot master a hero for stopping Dr. Wily that first time. Around that time, I came to the conclusion that heroes are just flashy showmen, the ones who burst out in a conflict so that their names will be remembered for years to come. They may say otherwise, but everyone is after power, control, money, or things of that nature. True goodness and altruism do not exist. A hero would not bring peace… but a man of great power could.

"Thus, I began motions to make myself powerful enough to enforce peace and order. I came up with a long list of things to do, like strengthening the law enforcement agencies, but not to the point where they would try to take power themselves. And I came up with many plans. The one I chose, unfortunately, called for creating more chaos before order could be solidified. The peoples of the world were like a herd and I had to steer them towards the goal I wanted. That meant giving them things to be afraid of so that they complied with my directions more readily.

"I decided that the robots had to go. As convenient as they were, much of the on-going conflicts involved them. And it wasn't that hard to turn public opinion against them and those who made them. At least, most of them. People still praised Mega Man for being a hero and his creator Dr. Light for being a generous and kindly genius. I had to work carefully around them; I managed to install one of my followers as head of security at the Light Labs, then had him set up the destruction of that building. I didn't tell Brown that he had to die to keep the secret, though. The public had to see the destruction of all the robot masters as a great thing, and one they should be grateful to me and my government for. The story of manipulating the media to give that image is quite lengthy itself…

"Besides the robotic threat, I came up with something on the complete opposite end of the scale to assist my claim to power: a group of anti-technology fanatics who were, as their statements go, trying to put a fear of modernity in the people, as well as a return to absolute faith and respect to an all-powerful God and all-powerful Church. I made them, though, and I am putting into motion the actions that will break them. Although, a few will remain. That and the ghost of Dr. Wily should keep the public in check in the coming years.

"I'm fairly certain that Dr. Wily is dead. He was going to make a major action against the political party I founded, the Authoritarians. Although, they are still around only as an extra string to pull the public with. Wily never made any actions after that last statement. But I have a few combat robots still around, kept in storage with their memories wiped. They'll be released when another imminent threat is needed.

"And here I am, in a position of real power, unlike any global president before me. I make the people believe that they need me, and they do. Sometimes I've wondered if all the fear is worth having world peace. Maybe it isn't true peace, but the world is in better order than it's ever been. And the people are starting to feel like they are safe, so long as I am in control. That works for me.

"I've been controlling a lot of information, but I'm starting to feel like I might want to record some of the background mechanisms. I'm not going to live forever, after all, and I don't want history to blemish my records either. What to do with this recording and others in the meantime, that is a security issue. I don't want to give what rebels there are any materials to attack me with.

"And now, there are no active robot masters. What ones are left will be destroyed, perhaps in the next year. I'm thinking of staging a public death for Dr. Wily by way of the military. It shouldn't be too hard to put together some recordings that seem like him. The robots were a necessary sacrifice, though, as people are safer than before.

"As for me… I regret nothing. But I also know that this might not last for the rest of my life. For now, I will just enjoy the prestige I've given myself."

The president turned off the recorder and glanced at it. It would need to go in some safe box. But for now, he stuck it in his bag. Then he relaxed back in his beach chair and enjoyed the beautiful solitary island. Yet, there was a good reason for him not to relax. Hidden behind some bushes was one of his servants, a terrorist in disguise. He had been watching and listening to him.

"You think you created us?" he whispered spitefully. "You have merely been a hand of God, working to bring His kingdom back to Earth. And now, God has revealed to me that your part has ended. You must die, Mr. President."

He readied his CK rifle. Unknown to him, the president had indeed placed those military weapons into his group's hands. Despite this, the leaders had decided that the global president was not a man interested in God; he was just some greedy power-hungry politician that was trying to get the world wrapped around his fingers. But the world properly belonged to God. The fanatic fired, killing the president instantly.

_A/N: And now most everyone is dead and the two survivors are left to hibernate for a hundred years. As you might have noticed, I was very close to having Rush survive too. I love animals and it's doubly hard to kill off a loyal pet. In the end, though, this is a classic tragedy and only those that survive in canon would survive here._

_Due to the characters I picked for the main POVs, it would seem out of place if I explained the actions and thoughts of the Authoritarian-terrorist faction. So I added the global president at the end to describe his motives and some planning._

* * *

 

_And for a little lightness after a heavy tragedy, here is an extra non-canon scene. If one were to twist this story into an AU, then Blues and Forte would have escaped Dr. Wily after learning about Omega, taking Two with them._

The ice rink wasn't open for the day yet, but there was some activity. The android who was taking care of the facility was sitting nervously near a reporter and her two crewmen. "I don't know if I'd make an interesting interview," Two stated, fiddling with his blond hair.

"A good many people have been curious about you," the reporter told him. "Just be yourself."

"Um, okay. Do I look all right?" Dr. Light had fixed his face up so that he could be more expressive and stop wearing that mask out in public. But Two still kept it, and had it hung in his office as a prized possession. He had also gotten rid of the armor and was now wearing human clothes, a brown turtleneck and heavy blue jeans. But his boots were still armored machines, as he needed them for his hover and blade skates.

"You're fine; you look very nice. Are we ready to begin?"

The two others were ready and started their equipment. Two figured he was as ready as he would be, so he nodded. Back during the exhibition skating, he hadn't realized that he would be on TV. Now he knew that he would be, and that made him nervous.

"Hello, this is Carol of the Channel 8 News, here today in the Monsteropolis City Skating Rink with its new android manager, Two. How are you doing today, Two?"

"I'm good," he replied. "Getting used to this job."

"Why did you choose to come out for this job? There must have been other qualified potentials who were humans."

"There were," he said. And he still wasn't sure how he got picked over them, but, "But I wanted to try anyhow. I love skating and it's really who I am. I've tried some other things, but I always wanted to come back to skating. Since I can't enter the competitive scene, I applied for this job so that I could skate and work for other people who also love to skate. I guess they might have seen how dedicated I am to it."

"Of course; everyone has noted your passion. Are you going to try exhibition skating again?"

He nodded. "Yeah, I hope to do so, especially the charity events. I did get an invitation to a fundraising show up in Chicago later this year, to help a children's hospital. They want me to try ice dancing with a partner, though, which I've never done before. I can't tell you who my partner is going to be, but she's really famous, and amazing." To think that he, a reject robot from Dr. Wily, would be asked to skate with a celebrity ice star, one that he'd idolized while learning his skills, that was more unbelievable than him getting to own and run an ice rink! But she was supposed to be coming soon to start practice with him.

"How exciting. We'll be looking forward to that. Also, you've been reinstating skating classes at this rink. Would you tell us some about that?"

He nodded. "Yes, the previous class sessions offered had a prohibitively high price, so it was eventually dropped due to low participation. I plan on having a lower entrance fee, plus a special exemption for children from low-income families. I believe we can cover the cost through special events throughout the year, which will also draw more interest in the skating rink itself. I think it's a wonderful opportunity for people to learn about this fun sport. Then again, I am biased towards it."

"Still, it sounds like a great plan. Do you plan on teach any classes yourself?"

He blushed some. "Well I'll try," he said, getting an encouraging smile from the reporter. "I may know how to skate, but I'm not sure about teaching others. I'll be acting as a teaching assistant at first, so I could learn that."

"It is good of all of us to try new things. Now, some people have been worried since you're a robot designed by Dr Wily. Do you have anything to say to that?"

That. It had been something that had troubled him too. "I know that they're worried, but I don't have any loyalty left for Dr. Wily. There was a time when all I wanted to do was please him. But he never gave me any praise and criticized me on anything he could, no matter how minor it was. I wasn't worth much in his scheme of things, just a robot master built to test out ideas. I thought I was worthless, and that I'd be disposed of when he was done with me. But then Blues convinced me to leave with him and that changed everything."

There were still some times, usually when he was here by himself, that Two still wished that Dr. Wily would praise him somehow. And he occasionally thought that he might do anything if his creator would think highly of him for it. However, it was like Dr. Light had said. If he went back with that in mind, he was only going to encounter more disappointment and heartbreak. Wily would keep changing the rules, keeping his praise just out of his reach.

And Two knew that from experience. At first, he wanted Two to jump right. Once he was doing that, he kept demanding more difficult jumps and movements. The only praise ever had been that half-hearted line about improvement. And immediately after that, he had been yelled at for being so excited over the skating exhibition and the judge's comments. Blues had quite literally saved him from the junk heap, just minutes from being shut down and torn apart for scraps.

Still, if Dr. Wily came back and said that Two could be important and necessary…

No, he had to give those wishes up. It would never happen.

"So your loyalty is to the Light family, then?" the reporter asked, breaking him out of those thoughts.

Two nodded. "Yes, certainly. They've done so much for me and Dr. Light always treated me as one of his own. They made me feel like I was worth something, and made me more like an actual person. The Lights are my real family now; I'm grateful for the help they've given me even though I couldn't ask for it."

And he didn't have to wish for the love and support of the Light family. They gave it to him freely. Two wanted to be like that and he was trying to learn how.


End file.
